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(^ybo/uu/yf^-^^- 


THE 

HISTORY  OF  RASSELAS, 

PEINCE  OF  ABYSSINIA. 
SAMUEL  JOHNSON,  LL.D. 


NEW    YORK: 

D.  APPLETON   AND    COMPANY 

90,  92  &  94  GEAND  ST. 

1870. 


NOTICE  OF  RASSELAS, 


EXTRACTED   FROM 


BOSWELL'S  "LIFE  OF  JOHNSON. 


"This  Tale,  with  all  the  charms  of  oriental 
imagery,  and  all  the  force  and  beauty  of  which 
the  English  language  is  capable,  leads  us  through 
the  most  important  scenes  of  human  life,  and 
shows  us  that  this  stage  of  our  being  is  full 
of  '  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit.'  To  those 
who  look  no  further  than  the  present  life,  or 
wlio  maintain  that  human  nature  has  not  fallen 
from  the  state  in  which  it  was  created,  the  in- 
struction of  this  sublime  story  will  be  of  no 
avail.  But  they  who  think  justly  and  feel  with 
strong  sensibility  will  listen  with  eagerness  and 
admiration  to  its  truth  and  wisdom. 
I, 


22307' y4 


VI  NOTICE  OP  RASSELA6. 

"  It  may  be  considered  as  a  more  enlarged 
and  more  deeply  philosophical  discourse  in 
prose,  upon  the  interesting  truth,  which,  in 
his  'Vanity  of  Human  Wishes,'  he  had  so  suc- 
cessfully enforced  in  verse. 

"The  fund  of  thinking  which  this  woik  con- 
tains is  such,  that  almost  every  sentence  of  it 
may  furnish  a  subject  of  long  meditation.  I 
am  not  satisfied  if  a  year  passes  without  my 
having  read  it  through;  and  at  every  perusal, 
my  admiration  of  the  mind  which  produced  it 
is  SD  highly  raised,  that  I  can  scarcely  believe 
that  I  had  the  honor  of  enjoying  the  intimacy 
of  such  a  man. 

"1  restrain  myself  from  quoting  passages  from 
this  excellent  work,  or  even  referring  to  them, 
because  I  should  not  know  what  to  select,  or, 
rather,  what  to  omit. 

"Notwithstanding  my  high  adm.iration  of 
Rasselas,  I  will  not  maintain  that  the  '  morbid 
melancholy'  in  Johnson's  constitution  may  not, 
perhaps,  have  made  life  appear  to  him  moio 
insipid  and  unhappy  than  it  generally  is;  for  1 
am  sure  that  he  had  less  enjoyment  from  it 


NOTICE   OF   RASSELAS.  VH 

thaa  I  have  Yet,  whatever  additional  shade 
hi3  own  particular  sensatlon^may  have  thrown 
on  his  representation  of  life,  attentive  observa- 
tion and  close  Inquiry  have  convinced  me  that 
there  is  loo  much  reality  in  the  gloomy  picture. 
The  truth,  however,  is,  that  we  judge  of  the 
happiness  and  misery  of  life  differently  at  dif- 
ferent times,  according  to  the  slate  of  our 
changeable  frame.  I  always  remember  a  re- 
mark made  to  me  by  a  Turkish  lady  educated 
in  France:  ' Ma /oi,  Monsieur,  notre  bonheur 
depend  de  la  fa^on  que  notre  sang  circule.' 
This  have  I  learnt  from  a  pretty  hard  course  of 
experience,  and  would,  from  sincere  benevo- 
lence, impress  upon  all  who  honor  this  book 
with  a  perusal,  that,  until  a  steady  conviction 
is  obtained,  that  the  present  life  is  an  imperfect 
slate,  and  only  a  passage  to  a  better,  if  we  com- 
ply with  the  divine  scheme  of  progressive  im- 
provement ;  and  also  that  it  is  a  part  of  the 
mysterious  plan  of  Providence,  that  intellectual 
beings  must  'be  made  perfect  through  suffer- 
ing ; '  there  will  be  a  continual  recurrence  of 
disappointment  and  uneasiness.  But  if  we  walk 


Tiii  NOTICE  OF  RASSELAS. 

with  hope  in  the  '  mid-day  sun '  of  revelation, 
our  temper  and  disposition  will  be  such,  that 
the  comforts  and  enjoyments  in  our  way  will 
be  relished,  while  we  patiently  support  the 
inconveniences  and  pains." 


* 

CONTENTS. 

Cbapter                                                                          Page 

I.  Description  of  a  Palace  in  a  Valley 

1 

n.  The  Discontent   of  Rasselas   in  the 

Happy  Valley         .... 

5 

III.  The  wants  of  him  that  wants  noth- 

ing .                

9 

IV.  The  Prince  continues  to  grieve  and 

muse 

11 

V.  The  Prince  meditates  hia  Escape     . 

16 

VI.  A  Dissertation  on  the  Art  of  Flying 

13 

Vn.  The  Prince  finds  a  Man  of  Learning 

23 

Vm.  The  History  of  Imlac        .        . 

25 

IX.  The  History  of  Imlac  continued 

30 

X.  Imlac's  History  continued.     A  Dis- 

sertation upon  Poetry    . 

34 

XI   Imlac's  Narrative  continued.    A  Hint 

on  Pilgrimage          .... 

33 

Xn.  The  Story  of  Imlac  continued  . 

42 

Xm.  Rasselas  discovers  the  Means  of  Es- 

cape          

43 

X 

CONTENTS. 

i 

Chapter 

P..e   1 

XIV 

Rasselas  and  Imlac  receive  an  un- 

expected Visit    .... 

51 

XV 

Tlie  Prince  and  Princess  leave  the 

Valley  and  see  many  Wonders 

53 

XVI. 

They  enter  Cairo  and  find  every 

]\Ian  happy        .... 

56 

xvn. 

The  Prince  associates  with  Young 

Men  Df  Spirit  and  Gayety 

61 

XVIII. 

The  Prince  finds  a  wise  and  hap- 

py Man 

63 

XIX. 

A  glimpse  of  Pastoral  Life   . 

66 

XX. 

The  Danger  of  Prosperity    , 

63 

XXI. 

The  Happiness  of  Solitude.    The 

Hermit's  History 

71 

XXII. 

The  Happiness  of  a  Life  led  ac- 

cording to  Nature      . 

74 

XXIII. 

The  Prince  and   his  Sister  divide 
between  them  the  Work  of  Ob- 

servation     

73 

XXIV. 

The  Prince  examines  the  Happi- 

ness of  High  Stations 

79 

XXV. 

The  Princess  pursues  her  Inquiry 

with  more  Diligence  than  Success 

81 

XXVI. 

Tlie  Princess  continues  her  Re- 

marks upon  private  Life  • 

84 

XXVII. 

Disquisition  upon  Greatness 

83 

XXVIII. 

Rasselas    and    Nekayah   continue 

their  Conversation     . 

91 

XXIX. 

The  Debate  of  Marriage  continued 

95 

CONTENTS. 

xi 

Chapter 

Page 

XXX.  Imlac  enters,  and  chanses  the 

Conversation    .... 

100 

XXXI. 

They  visit  the  Pyramids    . 

104 

XXXIT. 

They  enter  the  Pyramid    . 

107 

xxxii!. 

The  Prin&ass  meets  with  an  un- 

expected Misfortune 

109 

XXXTV. 

They  return  to  Cairo  without  Pe- 

kuah 

111 

XXXV. 

The  Princess  languishes  for  want 

of  Pekuah         .... 

115 

XXXVI. 

Pekuah  is  still  remembered.  The 

Progress  of  Sorrow  . 

120 

XXXVII. 

The  Princess  hears  News  of  Pe- 

kuah          

121 

XXXVIIT. 

The  Adventures  of  the  Lady  Pe- 

kuah          

124 

XXXTX. 

The  Adventures  of  Pekuah  con- 

tinued        

129 

XL. 

The  History  of  a  Man  of  Learn- 

ing     

137 

XLI. 

The   Astronomer  discovers    the 

Cause  of  his  Uneasiness  . 

140 

XLII 

The  Opinion  of  the  Astronomer 

is  explained  and  justified 

141 

XLHI 

The  Astronomer  leaves  Imlac  his 

Directions         .... 

144 

XLIV 

The  dangerous  Prevalence  of  Im- 

agination   

146 

XLV 

Tliey  Discourse  with  an  old  Man  149 

XII  CONTENTS. 

ClHipter  Pa£,t! 

XLVI.  The   Princess   and    Pekuah   visit 

the  Astronomer    .        .        ,        .153 
XLVII.  The  Prince  enters,  and  brings  a 

new  Topic  .        .        .        .        .61 
XL VIII.  Imlac  discourses  on  the  Nature  of 

the  Soul 166 

XLIX.  The  Conclusion,  in  which  nothing 

is  concluded        ,        .        .        .171 


HISTORY   OF   RASSELAS, 

PRINCE    OF    ABYSSINIA. 
CHAPTER  I. 

DESCRIPTION   OP  A  PALACE  IN  A  VALLEY. 

Ye  who  listen  with  credulity  to  the  whis- 
pers of  fancy,  and  pursue  with  eagerness 
the  phantoms  of  hope  3  who  expect  that 
age  will  perform  the  promises  of  youth,  and 
that  the  deficiencies  of  the  present  day  will 
be  supplied  by  the  morrow  ;  attend  to  the 
history  of  Rasselas,  prince  of  Abyssinia. 

Rasselas  was  the  fourth  son  of  the  migh- 
ty emperor,  in  whose  dominions  the  Fa- 
ther of  Waters  begins  his  course  ;  whose 
bounty  pours  down  the  streams  of  plenty, 
and  scatters  over  half  the  world  the  har- 
vests of  Egypt. 

According  to  the  custom  which  has  de- 
scended from  age  to  age  among  the  mon- 
archs  of  the  torrid  zone,  Rasselas  was 
confined  in  a  private  palace,  with  the  oth- 
er sons  and  daughters  of  Abyssinian  royal- 
ty, till  the  order  of  succession  should  call 
him  to  the  throne. 


RASSELAS. 


The  place,  which  Ihe  wisdom  or  policy 
of  antiquity  had  destined  for  the  residence 
of  the  Abyssinian  princes,  was  a  spacious  I 
valley  in  the  kingdom  of  Amhara,  sur- 
rounded on  every  side  by  mountains,  of 
which  the  summits  overhang  the  middle 
part.  The  only  passage  by  which  it  could 
be  entered,  was  a  cavern  that  passed  under 
a  rock,  of  which  it  has  long  been  disputed 
whether  it  was  the  work  of  nature  or  of 
human  industry.  The  outlet  of  the  cavern 
was  concealed  by  a  thick  wood,  and  the 
mouth  which  opened  into  the  valley  was 
closed  with  gates  of  iron,  forged  by  the  ar- 
tificers of  ancient  days,  so  massy  that  no 
man  without  the  help  of  engines  could 
open  or  shut  them. 

From  the  mountains  on  every  side,  rivu- 
lets descended  that  filled  all  the  valley 
with  verdure  and  fertility,  and  formed  a 
lake  in  the  middle,  inhabited  by  fish  of  ev- 
ery species,  and  frequented  by  every  fowl 
whom  nature  has  taught  to  dip  the  wing  in 
water.  This  lake  discharged  its  superflui- 
ties by  a  stream  which  entered  a  dark  cleft 
of  the  mountain  on  the  northern  side,  and 
fell  with  dreadful  noise  from  precipice  t® 
precipice  till  it  was  heard  no  more. 

The  sides  of  the  mountains  were  cov- 
ered with  trees,  the  banks  of  the  brooks 
were  diversified  with  flovver.s ;  every  blast 
shook  spices  from  the  rocks,  and  every 
month    dropped    fruits    upon   the    ground. 


RASSELAS.  d 

All  animak  that  bite  the  grass,  or  browse 
the  shrub,  whether  wild  or  tame,  wander- 
ed in  this  extensive  circuit,  secured  from 
beasts  of  prey  by  the  mountains  which  con- 
fined them.  On  one  part  were  flocks  and 
herds  feeding  in  the  pastures,  on  another 
all  the  beasts  of  chase  frisking  in  the  lawns  3 
the  sprightly  kid  was  bounding  on  the 
rocks,  the  subtle  monkey  frolicking  in  the 
trees,  and  the  solemn  elephant  reposing  in 
the  shade.  All  the  diversities  of  the  world 
were  brought  together,  the  blessings  of  na- 
ture were  collected,  and  its  evils  extracted 
and  excluded. 

The  valley,  wide  and  fruitful,  supplied  its 
inhabitantfj  with  the  necessaries  of  life,  and 
all  delights  and  superfluities  were  added  at 
the  annual  visit  which  the  emperor  paid 
his  children,  when  the  iron  gate  was  open- 
ed to  the  sound  of  music  ;  and  during  eight 
days  every  one  that  resided  in  the  valley 
was  required  to  propose  whatever  might 
contribute  to  make  seclusion  pleasant,  to 
fill  up  the  vacancies  of  attention,  and  lessen  j 
the  tediousness  of  time.  Every  desire  was 
immediately  granted.  All  the  artificers  of 
pleasure  were  called  to  gladden  the  festiv- 
ity; the  musicians  exerted  the  power  of 
harmony,  and  the  dancers  showed  their  ac- 
tivity before  the  princes,  in  hope  that  they 
should  pass  their  lives  in  this  blissful  cap- 
tivity ;  to  which  those  only  were  admitted 
whose  performance  was   thought  able    to 


4  RASSELAS. 

add  novelty  to  luxury.  Such  was  the  ap- 
pearance of  security  and  delight  which  this 
retirement  afforded,  that  they,  to  whom  it 
was  new,  always  desired  that  it  might  be 
perpetual ;  and  as  those,  on  whom  the  iron 
gate  had  once  closed,  were  never  suffered 
to  return,  the  effect  of  long  experience 
could  not  be  known.  Thus  every  year  pro- 
duced new  schemes  of  delight,  and  new 
competitors  for  imprisonment. 

The  palace  stood  on  an  eminence  raised 
about  thirty  paces  above  the  surface  of  the 
lake.  It  was  divided  into  many  squares  or 
courts,  built  with  greater  or  less  magnifi- 
cence, according  to  the  rank  of  those  for 
whom  they  were  designed.  The  roofs  were 
turned  into  arches  of  massy  stone,  joined 
by  a  cement  that  grew  harder  by  time,  and 
the  ituilding  stood  from  century  to  century 
deriding  the  solstitial  rains  and  equinoctial 
hurricanes,  without  need  of  reparation. 

This  house,  which  was  so  large  as  to  be 
fully  known  to  none  but  some  ancient  offi- 
cers who  successively  inherited  the  secrets 
of  the  place,  was  built  as  if  suspicion  her- 
self had  dictated  the  plan.  To  every  room 
there  was  an  open  and  secret  passage,  ev- 
ery square  had  a  communication  with  the 
rest,  either  from  the  upper  stories  by  pri- 
vate galleries,  or  by  subterranean  passages 
from  the  lower  apartments.  Many  of  the 
columns  had  unsuspected  cavities  in  which 
a  long  race  of  monarchs  had  deposited  their 


RASSELAS.  O 

treasures.  They  then  closed  up  the  open- 
ing with  marble,  which  was  never  to  be  re* 
moved,  but  in  the  utmost  exigencies  of  the 
kingdom ;  and  recorded  their  accumula- 
tions in  a  book^  which  was  itself  concealed 
in  a  tower  not  entered  but  by  the  emperor, 
attended  by  the  prince  who  stood  next  in 
succession. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   DISCONTENT   OP   RASSELAS   IN   THE   HAPPY 
VALLEY. 

Here  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Abys- 
sinia lived  only  to  know  the  soft  vicissi- 
tudes of  pleasure  and  repose,  attended  by 
all  that  were  skilful  to  delight,  and  gratified 
with  whatever  the  senses  can  enjoy.  They 
wandered  in  gardens  of  fragrance,  and  slept 
in  the  fortresses  of  security.  Every  art  was 
practised  to  make  them  pleased  with  their 
own  condition.  The  sages,  who  instructed 
them,  told  them  of  nothing  but  the  miseries 
of  public  life,  and  described  all  beyond  the 
mountains  as  regions  of  calamity,  where 
discord  was  always  raging,  and  where  man 
preyed  upca  man.  To  heighten  their  opin- 
ion of  their  own  felicity,  they  were  daily 
entertained  with  songs,  the  subject  of  which 
was  the  happy  valletj.  Their  appetites  were 
excited  by  frequent  enumerations  of  dift'er- 


b  RASSELAS. 

ent  enjoyments,  and  revelry  and  merriment 
was  the  business  of  every  hour  from  the 
dawn  of  mornini^  to  the  close  of  even. 

These  methods  were  generally  success- 
ful; lew  of  the  princes  had  ever  wished  to 
enlarge  their  bounds,  but  passed  their  lives 
in  full  conviction  that  they  had  all  within 
their  reach  that  art  or  nature  could  bestow, 
and  pitied  those. whom  fate  had  excluded 
from  this  seat  of  tranquillity,  as  the  sport 
of  chance  and  the  slaves  of  misery. 

Thus  they  rose  in  the  morning  and  lay 
down  at  night,  pleased  with  each  other  and 
with  themselves  ;  all  but  Rasselas,  who,  in 
the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  began  to 
withdraw  himself  from  their  pastimes  and 
assemblies,  and  to  delight  in  solitary  walks 
and  silent  meditation.  He  often  sat  before 
tables  covered  with  luxury,  and  forgot  to 
taste  the  dainties  that  were  placed  before 
him  ;  he  rose  abruptly  in  the  midst  of  the 
song,  and  hastily  retired  beyond  the  sound 
of  music.  His  attendants  observed  the 
change,  and  endeavoured  to  renew  his  love 
of  pleasure;  he  neglected  their  oliicious- 
ness,  repulsed  their  invitations,  and  spent 
day  after  day  on  tlie  banks  of  rivulets  shel- 
tered with  trees,  where  he  sometimes  lis- 
tened to  the  birds  in  the  branches,  some- 
times observed  tlie  fishes  playing  in  the 
stream,  and  anon  cast  his  eyes  upon  the 
pastures  and  mountains  filled  with  animals, 
of  which  some  were  biting  the  herbage,  and 


RASSELAS.  7 

some  sleeping  among  the  bushes.  This  sin- 
gularity of  his  humor  made  him  much  ob- 
served! One  of  the  sages,  in  whose  con- 
versation he  had  formerly  delighted,  fol- 
lowed him  secretly,  in  hope  of  discovering 
the  cause  of  his  disquiet.  Rasselas,  who 
knew  not  that  any  one  was  near  him,  having 
for  some  time  fixed  his  eyes  upon  the  goats 
that  were  browsing  among  the  rocks,  began 
to  compare  their  condition  with  his  own. 

'•'  What,"  said  he,  "  makes  the  difference 
between  man  and  all  the  rest  of  the  animal 
creation  ?  Every  beast  that  strays  beside 
me  has  the  same  corporeal  necessities  with 
myself;  he  is  hungry  and  crops  the  grass, 
he  is  thirsty  and  drinks  the  stream,  his  thirst 
and  hunger  are  appeased,  he  is  satisfied  and 
sleeps  ;  he  arises  again  and  is  hungry,  he  is 
again  fed  and  is  at  rest.  I  am  hungry  and 
thirsty  like  him,  but  when  hunger  and  thirst 
cease,  I  am  not  at  rest ;  I  am,  like  him,  pain- 
ed with  want,  but  am  not,  like  him,  satisfied 
with  fulness.  The  intermediate  hours  are 
tedious  and  gloomy;  I  long  again  to  be 
hungry  that  I  may  again  quicken  my  atten- 
tion. The  birds  peck  the  berries  or  the 
corn,  and  fiy  away  to  the  groves,  where  they 
sit  in  seeming  happiness  on  the  branches, 
and  waste  their  lives  in  tuning  one  unvaried 
series  of  sounds.  I  likewise  can  call  the  lu- 
tanist  and  the  singer,  but  the  sounds  that 
pleased  me  yesterday  weary  me  to-day„  and 
will  fjrow  vet  more  wearisome  to-moirow. 


8  IIASSELAS. 

I  can  discover  within  me  no  power  of  per- 
ception which  is  not  glutted  with  its  proper 
pleasure,  yet  I  do  not  feel  myself  delighted. 
Man  surely  has  some  latent  sense  for  which 
this  place  affords  no  gratification  ;  or  he 
has  some  desires  distinct  from  sense  which 
must  be  satisfied  before  he  can  be  happy." 

After  this,  he  lifted  up  his  head,  and  see- 
ing the  moon  rising,  walked  towards  the 
palace.  As  he  passed  through  the  fields, 
and  saw  the  animals  around  him,  ''Ye," 
said  he,  "  are  happy,  and  need  not  envy  me 
that  walk  thus  among  you,  burdened  with 
myself  5  nor  do  I,  ye  gentle  beings,  envy 
your  felicity  5  for  it  is  not  the  felicity  of 
man.  I  have  many  distresses  from  which 
ye  are  free  ;  I  fear  pain  when  I  do  not  feel 
it ;  I  sometimes  shrink  at  evils  recollected, 
and  sometimes  start  at  evils  anticipated. 
Surely  the  equity  of  Providence  has  bal- 
anced peculiar  sufferings  with  peculiar  en- 
joyments." 

With  observations  like  these,  the  prince 
amused  himself  as  he  returned,  uttering 
them  with  a  plaintive  voice,  yet  with  a  look 
that  discovered  him  to  feel  some  compla- 
cence in  his  own  perspicuity,  and  to  receive 
some  solace  of  the  miseries  of  life,  from 
consciousness  of  the  delicacy  with  which 
he  felt,  and  the  eloquence  with  which  he 
bewailed  them.  He  mingled  cheerfully  in 
the  diversions  of  the  evening,  and  all  re- 
joiced to  find  that  his  heart  was  lightened. 


RASSELAS.  y 

CHAPTER  11 

THE  WANTS   OF   HIM  THAT  WANTS   NOTHING. 

Ox  the  next  day,  his  old  instructor,  im- 
agining that  he  had  now  made  himself  ac- 
quainted with  his  disease  of  mind,  was  in 
hope  of  curing  it  by  counsel,  and  officiously 
sought  an  opportunity  of  conference,  which 
the  prince,  having  long  considered  him  as 
one  whose  intellects  were  exhausted,  was 
not  very  v/illing  to  afford  :  "  Why."  said  he, 
•'  does  this  man  thus  obtrude  upon  me ;  shall 
1  be  never  suffered  to  forget  those  lectures 
which  pleased  only  while  they  were  new, 
and  to  become  new  again,  must  be  forgot- 
ten ?  "  He  then  walked  into  the  wood,  and 
composed  himself  to  his  usual  meditations  3 
when,  before  his  thoughts  had  taken  any  set- 
tled form,  he  perceived  his  pursuer  at  his 
side,  and  was  at  first  prompted  by  his  impa- 
tience to  go  hastily  away  ;  but.  being  unwiN 
ling  to  offend  a  man  whom  he  had  once 
reverenced  and  still  loved,  he  invited  him  | 
to  sit  down  with  him  on  the  bank. 

The  old  man,  thus  encouraged,  began  to 
lament  the  change  which  had  been  lately 
observed  in  the  prince,  and  to  inquire  why 
he  so  often  retired  from  the  pleasures  of  the 
palace,  to  loneliness  and  silence.  ''  I  fly 
from  pleasure,"  said  the  prince,  '^  because 
J 


10  BASSELAS. 

pleasure  has  ceased  to  please  :  I  am  lonely 
because  I  am  miserable,  and  am  unwilling  to 
cloud  with  my  presence  the  happiness  of 
others.'"'  "  You,  Sir,"  said  the  sage,  "  are 
the  first  who  has  complained  of  miseiy  in 
the  happy  valleij.  I  hope  to  convince  you 
that  your  complaints  have  no  real  cause. 
You  are  here  in  full  possession  ol  all  the 
emperor  of  Abyssinia  can  bestow;  here  is 
neither  labor  to  be  endured  nor  danger  to  be 
dreaded,  yet  here  is  all  that  labor  or  danger 
can  procure  or  purchase.  Look  round  and 
tell  me  which  of  your  wants  is  without  sup- 
ply ;  if  you  want  nothing  how  are  you  un- 
iiappy  1 " 

"  That  I  want  nothing,"  said  the  prince, 
"  or  that  I  know  not  what  I  want,  is  the  cause 
of  my  complaint ;  if  I  had  any  known  want, 
I  should  have  a  certain  wish  ;  that  wish 
would  excite  endeavour,  and  I  should  not 
then  repine  to  see  the  sun  move  so  slowly 
towards  the  western  mountain,  or  lament 
when  the  daybreaks  and  sleep  will  no  long- 
er liide  me  from  myself.  When  I  see  the 
kids  and  the  lambs  chasing  one  another,  I 
fancy  I  should  be  happy  if  I  liad  something  to 
pursue.  But,  possessing  all  that  I  can  want. 
I  find  one  day  and  one  hour  exactly  like  an- 
other, except  that  the  latter  is  still  more  te- 
dious than  the  former.  Let  your  experience 
inform  me  how  the  day  may  now  seem  as 
short  as  in  my  childhood,  while  nature  was 
vet  fresh,  and  every  moment  showed  me 


RASSELAS.  11 

what  I  never  had  observed  before.  I  have 
already  enjoyed  loo  much  ;  give  me  some- 
thing to  desire."  The  old  man  was  sur- 
prised at  this  new  species  of  affliction,  and 
knew  not  what  to  reply,  yet  was  unwilling 
to  be  silent.  "  Sir,"  said  he,  '■'  if  you  had 
seen  the  miseries  of  the  world,  you  would 
know  how  to  value  your  present  state." 
*•  j\ow,"  said  the  prince,  "  you  have  given 
me  something  to  desire  ;  I  shall  long  to  see 
the  miseries  of  the  world,  since  the  sight  of 
them  is  necessary  to  happiness." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   PRIXCE   CONTINUES    TO    GRIEVE  AND   MUSE. 

At  this  time  the  sound  of  music  pro- 
claimed the  hour  of  repast,  and  the  conver- 
sation was  concluded.     The  old  man  went 
away  sufficiently  discontented,  to  find  that 
his  reasonings  had  produced  the  only  con- 
clusion which  they  were  intended  to  pre-  j 
vent.     But  in  the  decline  of  life  shame  and  I 
grief  are  of  short  duration ;  whether  it  be  I 
that  we  bear  easily  what  we  have  borne  j 
long ;  or  that,  finding  ourselves  in  age  less 
regarded,  we  less  regard  others;  or,  that  we 
look  with  slight  regard  upon  afflictions  to 
which  we  know  thit  the  hand  of  death  is 
about  to  put  an  end. 


VZ  RASSELAS. 

The  prince,  whose  views  were  extended 
to  a  wider  space,  could  not  speedily  quiet 
his  emotions.  He  had  been  before  terrified 
at  the  length  of  life  which  nature  promised 
him,  because  he  considered  that  in  a  long 
time  much  must  be  endured ;  he  now  re- 
joiced in  his  youth,  because  in  many  years 
much  might  be  done.  This  first  beam  of 
hope,  that  had  been  ever  darted  into  his 
mind,  rekindled  youth  in  his  cheeks,  and 
doubled  the  lustre  of  his  eyes.  He  was  fired 
with  the  desire  of  doing  something,  though 
he  knew  not  yet  with  distinctness  either  end 
or  means.  He  was  now  no  longer  gloomy 
and  unsocial ;  but,  considering  himself  as 
master  of  a  secret  stock  of  happiness,  which 
he  could  enjoy  only  by  concealing  it,  he  af- 
fected to  be  busy  in  all  schemes  of  diver- 
sion, and  endeavoured  to  make  others  pleas- 
ed with  the  state  of  which  he  himself  was 
weary.  But  pleasures  never  can  be  so  mul- 
tiplied or  continued  as  not  to  leave  much  of 
life  unemployed  ;  there  were  many  hours, 
both  of  the  night  and  day,  which  he  could 
spend  without  suspicion  in  solitary  thought. 
The  load  of  life  was  much  lightened :  he 
went  eagerly  into  the  assemblies,  because 
lie  supposed  the  frequency  of  his  presence 
necessary  to  the  success  of  his  purposes  ; 
he  retired  gladly  to  privacy,  because  he  had 
now  a  subject  of  thought.  His  chief  amuse- 
ment was  to  picture  to  himself  that  world 
which  he  had  never  seen  ;  to  place  himself 


RASSELAS.  13 

in  various  conditions  5  to  be  entangled  in 
imaginary  diificulties,  and  to  be  engaged  in 
wild  adventures ;  but  his  benevolence  al- 
ways terminated  his  projects  in  the  relief  of 
distress,  the  detection  of  fraud,  the  defeat  of 
oppression,  and  the  diffusion  of  happiness. 

Thus  passed  twenty  months  of  the  life  of 
Rasselas.  He  busied  himself  so  intensely 
in  visionary  bustle,  that  he  forgot  his  real 
solitude  ;  and,  amidst  hourly  preparations 
for  the  various  incidents  of  human  affairs, 
neglected  to  consider  by  what  means  he 
should  mingle  with  mankind. 

One  day,  as  he  was  sitting  on  a  bank,  he 
feigned  to  himself  an  orphan  virgin  robbed 
of  her  little  portion  by  a  treacherous  lover, 
and  crying  after  him  tor  restitution  and  re- 
dress. So  strongly  was  the  image  impress- 
ed upon  his  mind  that  he  started  up  in  the 
maid's  defence,  and  ran  forward  to  seize  the 
plunderer  with  all  the  eagerness  of  real  pur- 
suit. Fear  naturally  quickens  the  flight  of 
guilt.  Rasselas  could  not  catch  the  fugitive  j 
with  his  utmost  efforts;  but,  resolving  to 
weary,by  perseverance,  him  whom  he  could 
not  surpass  in  speed,  he  pressed  on  till  the  ! 
foot  of  the  mountain  stopped  his  course. 

Here  he  recollected  himself,  and  smiled  j 
at  his  own  useless  impetuosity.  Then  rais- 
ing his  eyes  to  the  mountain,  "This,"  saio 
he,  "  is  the  fatal  obstacle  that  hinders  at 
once  the  enjoyment  of  pleasure,  and  the 
exercise  of  virtue.     How  long  is  it  that  my 


14  RASSELAS. 

hopes  and  wishes  have  flown  beyond  this 
boundary  of  my  life,  which  yet  I  never  have 
attempted  to  surmount !  "  —  Struck  with 
this  reflection,  he  sat  down  to  muse,  and 
remembered,  that  since  he  first  resolved  to 
escape  from  his  confinement,  the  sun  had 
passed  twice  over  him  in  his  annual  course. 
He  now  felt  a  degree  of  regret  with  which 
he  had  never  been  before  acquainted.  He 
considered  how  much  mighthave  been  done 
in  tlie  time  w  hich  had  passed,  and  left  noth- 
ing real  behind  it.  He  compared  twenty 
montlis  with  the  life  of  man.  "  In  life,'' 
said  he,  "  is  not  to  be  counted  the  igno- 
rance of  infancy,  or  the  imbecility  of  age. 
We  are  long  before  we  are  able  to  think,  and 
we  soon  cease  from  the  power  of  acting. 
The  true  period  of  human  existence  may  be 
reasonably  estimated  at  forty  years,  of  which 
I  have  mused  away  the  four-and-twentieth 
part.  What  I  have  lost  was  certain  for  I 
have  certainly  possessed  it;  but  of  twenty 
months  to  come  who  can  assure  me  1  " 

The  consciousness  of  his  own  folly  pierc- 
ed him  deeply,  and  he  was  long  before  he 
could  be  reconciled  to  himself.  "  The  rest 
of  my  time,"  said  he,  "  has  been  lost  by  the 
crime  or  folly  of  my  ancestors  and  tlie  ab- 
surd institutions  of  my  country;  I  nemem- 
ber  it  with  disgust,  yet  without  remorse  : 
but  the  months  that  have  passed  since  new 
light  darted  into  my  soul,  since  I  formed  a 
scheme  of  reasonable  felicitv,  have  been 


.ASSELAS. 


squandered  by  my  own  fault.  I  have  lost 
that  which  can  never  be  restored ;  I  have 
seen  the  sun  rise  and  set  for  twenty  months, 
an  idle  gazer  on  tlie  light  of  heaven  :  in  this 
time  the  birds  have  left  the  nest  of  their 
motlier,  and  committed  themselves  to  the 
woods  and  to  the  skies  :  the  kid  has  forsak- 
en the  teat,  and  learned  by  degrees  to  climb 

I  the  rocks  in  (juest  of  independent  suste- 
nance. I  only  have  made  no  advances,  but 
am  still  helpless  and  ignorant.  The  moon, 
by  more  than  twenty  changes,  admonished 
me  of  the  flux  of  life  ;  the  stream  that  rolled 
before  my  feet  upbraided  my  inactivity.  I 
sat  feasting  on  intellectual  luxury,  regard- 
less alike  of  the  examples  of  the  earth, 
and  the  instruction  of  the  planets.  Twen- 
ty months  are  passed,  who  shall  restore 
them  ?  " 

These  sorrowful  meditations  fastened 
upon  his  mind  5  he  passed  four  months  in 
resolving  to  lose  no  more  time  in  idle  re- 
solves, and  was  awakened  to  more  vigorous 
exertion  by  hearing  a  maid,  who  had  broken 
a  porcelain  cup,  remark,  that  what  cannot 
be  repaired  is  not  to  be  regretted. 

This  was  obvious  ;  and  Rasselas  reproach- 
ed himself  that  he  had  not  discovered  it, 

I  having  not  known  or  not  considered  how 
many  useful  hints  are  obtained  by  chance, 
and  how  often  the  mind,  hurried  by  her  own 
ardor  to  distant  views,  neglects  the  truths 
that  lie  open  before  her.     He,  for  a  Cew 


10  RASSEIAS. 

hours,  regretted  his  regret,  and  from  that 
time  bent  his  whole  mind  upon  the  means 
of  escaping  from  the  valley  of  happiness. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   PRINCE   MEDITATES   HIS    ESCAPE. 

He  now  found  that  it  would  be  very  diffi- 
cult to  effect  that  which  it  was  very  easy  to 
suppose  effected.  When  he  looked  round 
about  him,  he  saw  himself  confined  by  the 
bars  of  nature,  which  had  never  yet  been 
broken,  and  by  the  gate,  through  wjiich 
none  that  once  had  passed  it  were  ever  able 
to  return.  He  was  now  impatient  as  an 
eagle  in  the  grate.  He  passed  week  after 
week  in  clambering  the  mountains,  to  see 
if  there  was  any  aperture  which  the  bushes 
might  conceal,  but  found  all  the  summits 
inaccessible  by  their  prominence.  The  iron 
gate  he  despaired  to  open  ;  for  it  was  not 
only  secured  with  all  the  power  of  art,  but 
was  always  watched  by  successive  senti- 
nels, and  was  by  its  position  exposed  to  the 
perpetual  observation  of  all  the  inhabitants. 

He  then  examined  the  cavern  tlirough 
which  the  waters  of  the  lake  were  dis- 
charged 5  and,  looking  down  at  a  time  when 
the  sun  shone  strongly  upon  its  rnouth,  he 
discovered  it  to  be  full   of  broken  rocks, 


RASSELAS. 


77"! 


which,  though  ihey  permitted  the  stream  to 
flow  through  many  narrow  passages,  would 
stop  any  body  of  solid  bulk.  He  returned 
discouraged  and  dejected  3  but,  having  now 
known  the  blessing  of  hope,  resolved  never 
to  dispair. 

In  these  fruitless  searches  he  spent  ten 
months.  The  time,  however,  passed  cheer- 
fully away  .  in  the  morning  he  rose  with 
new  hope,  in  the  evening  applauded  his 
own  diligence,  and  in  the  night  slept  sound 
after  his  fatigue.  He  met  a  thousand 
amusements  which  beguiled  his  labor  and 
diversified  his  thoughts.  He  discerned 
the  various  instincts  of  animals  and  prop- 
erties of  plants,  and  found  the  place  re- 
plete with  wonders,  of  which  he  pur- 
posed to  solace  himself  with  the  con- 
templation, if  he  should  never  be  able 
to  accomplish  his  flight ;  rejoicing  that 
his  endeavours,  though  yet  unsuccessful, 
had  supplied  him  with  a  source  of  inex- 
haustible inquiry. 

But  his  original  curiosity  was  not  yet 
abated;  he  resolved  to  obtain  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  ways  of  men.  His  wish  still 
continued,  but  his  hope  grew  less.  He 
ceased  to  survey  any  longer  the  walls  of 
his  prison,  and  spared  to  search  by  new 
toils  for  interstices  which  he  knew  could 
not  be  found,  yet  ietermined  to  keep  his 
design  always  in  .-lew,  and  lay  hold  on  any 
expedient  that  time  should  offer. 


18  RASSELAS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A   DISSERTATION   ON   THE   ART    OF   FLYING. 

Among  the  artists  that  had  been  allured 
into  the  happy  valley,  to  labor  for  the  ac- 
commodation and  pleasure  of  its  inhabit- 
ants, was  a  man  eminent  for  his  knowledge 
of  the  mechanic  powers,  who  had  contrived 
many  engines  both  of  use  and  recreation. 
By  a  wheel,  which  the  stream  turned,  he 
forced  the  water  into  a  tower,  whence  it 
was  distributed  to  all  the  apartments  of  the 
palace.  He  erected  a  pavilion  in  the  gar- 
den, around  which  he  kept  the  air  always 
cool  by  artificial  showers.  One  of  the 
groves,  appropriated  to  the  ladies,  was  ven- 
tilated by  fans,  to  which  the  rivulet  that 
ran  through  it  gave  a  constant  motion  ; 
j  and  instruments  of  soft  music  were  placed 
j  at  proper  distances,  of  which  some  played 
by  the  impulse  of  the  wind,  and  some  by 
the  power  of  the  stream. 

This  artist  was  sometimes  visited  by  Ras- 
selas,  who  was  pleased  with  every  kind  of 
knowledge,  imagining  that  the  time  would 
come  when  all  his  acquisitions  should  be 
of  use  to  him  in  the  open  world.  He  came 
one  day  to  amuse  himself  in  his  usual  man- 
ner, anci  found  the  master  busy  in  building 
a  siiilinff  cliariot:  he  saw  that  tlie  design 




RASSBLAS.  19 

was  practicable  on  a  level  surface,  and  with 
expressions  of  great  esteem  solicited  its 
completion.  The  workman  was  pleased  to 
find  himself  so  much  regarded  by  the  prince, 
and  resolved  to  gain  yet  higher  honors. 
"  Sir/'  said  he,  "  you  have  seen  but  a  small 
part  of  what  the  mechanic  sciences  can 
perform.  I  have  been  long  of  opinion, 
that  instead  of  the  tardy  conveyance  of 
ships  and  chariots,  man  might  use  the  swift- 
er  migration  of  wings;  that  the  fields  of  air 
are  open  to  knowledge,  and  that  only  igno- 
rance and  idleness  need  crawl  upon  the<, 
ground." 

This  hint  rekindled  the  prince's  desire  of 
passing  the  mountains  5  having  seen  what 
the  mechanist  had  already  performed,  he 
was  willing  to  fancy  that  he  could  do  more  3 
yet  resolved  to  inquire  further,  before  he 
suffered  hope  to  afflict  him  by  disappoint- 
ment. "  I  am  afraid,"  said  he  to  the  artist, 
"  that  your  imagination  prevails  over  your 
skill,  and  that  you  now  tell  me  rather  what 
you  wish,  than  what  you  know.  Every  an- 
imal has  his  element  assigned  him  ;  the 
birds  have  the  air,  and  man  and  beast  the 
earth."  "  So,"  replied  the  mechanist, 
"  fishes  have  the  water,  in  which  yet  beasts 
can  swim  by  nature,  and  men  by  art.  He 
that  can  swim  needs  not  despair  to  fly  :  to 
swim  is  to  fly  in  a  grosser  fluid,  and  to  fly 
is  to  swim  in  a  subtiler.  We  are  only  to 
proportion  our  power  of  resistance  to  the 


20  RASSELAS. 

different  density  of  matter  through  which 
we  are  to  pass.  You  will  be  necessarily 
upborne  by  thp  air,  if  you  can  renew  any 
impulse  uc-on  it  faster  than  the  air  can  re- 
cede from  the  pressure." 

"  But  the  exercise  of  swimming,"  said 
the  prince,  '•  is  very  laborious  ;  the  strong- 
est limbs  are  soon  wearied ;  I  am  afraid 
the  act  of  flying  will  be  yet  more  violent ; 
and  wings  will  be  of  no  great  use,  unless 
v/e  can  fly  further  than  we  can  swim." 

"  The  labor  of  rising  from  the  ground," 
said  the  artist,  "  will  be  great,  as  we  see 
it  in  the  heavier  domestic  fowls,  but  as 
we  mount  higher,  the  earth's  attraction 
and  the  body's  gravity  will  be  gradually 
diminished,  till  we  shall  arrive  at  a  region 
where  the  man  will  float  in  the  air  without 
any  tendency  to  fall  :  no  care  will  then  be 
necessary  but  to  move  forwards,  which 
the  gentlest  impulse  will  effect.  You, 
Sir,  whose  curiosity  is  so  extensive,  will 
easily  conceive  with  what  pleasure  a  phi- 
losopher, furnished  with  wings,  and  hov- 
ering in  the  sky,  would  see  the  earth,  and 
all  its  inhabitants,  rolling  beneath  him, 
and  presenting  to  him  successively,  by  its 
diurnal  motion,  all  the  countries  within 
the  same  parallel.  How  must  it  amuse 
the  pendent  spectator  to  see  the  moving 
scene  of  land  and  ocean,  cities  and  des- 
erts!  To  survey  with  equal  serenity  the 
marts  of  trade  and   the  fields  of  battle  ; 


RASSELAS.  21 

mountains  infested  by  barbarians,  and  fruit- 
ful regions  gladdened  by  plenty  and  lulled 
by  peace  !  How  easily  shall  we  then  trace 
the  jXile  through  all  his  passage  ;  pass  over 
to  distant  regions,  and  examine  the  face  of 
nature  from  one  extremity  of  the  earth  to 
the  other  ! " 

"  All  this,''  said  the  prince,  "  is  much  to 
be  desired  ;  but  I  am  afraid  that  no  man 
will  be  able  to  breathe  in  these  regions 
of  speculation  and  tranquillity.  I  have 
been  told,  that  respiration  is  difficult  upon 
lofty  mountains,  yet  from  these  precipices, 
though  so  high  as  to  produce  great  tenuity 
of  air,  it  is  very  easy  to  fall  :  therefore,  I 
suspect  that,  from  any  height  where  life  can 
be  supported,  there  may  be  danger  of  too 
quick  descent/' 

"  Nothing, "  replied  the  artist,  "  will  ever 
be  attempted,  if  all  possible  objections  must 
be  first  overcome.  If  you  will  favor  my 
project,  I  will  try  the  first  flight  at  my  own 
hazard.  I  have  considered  the  structure  of 
all  volant  animals,  and  find  the  folding  con- 
tinuity of  the  bat's  wings  most  easily  ac- 
commodated to  the  human  form.  Upon  this 
model  I  shall  begin  my  task  to-morrow,  and 
in  a  year  expect  to  tower  into  the  air  be- 
yond the  malice  and  pursuit  of  man.  But 
I  will  work  only  on  this  condition,  that  the 
art  shall  not  be  divulged,  and  that  you  shall 
not  require  me  to  make  wings  for  any  but 
ourselves." 


I  22  RASSELAS.  I 

"  Why/'  said  Rasselas,  ''should  you  en- 
j  vy  others  so  great  an  advantage  1  All  skill 
f  ought  to  be  exerted  for  universal  good  5  ev- 
ery man  has  owed  much  to  others,  and  ought 
to  repay  the  kindness  that  he  has  received." 

"If  men  were  all  virtuous,"- returned  the 
artist,  "  I  should  with  great  alacrity  teach 
them  all  to  tly.  But  what  would  be  the  se- 
curity of  the  good,  if  the  bad  could  at  pleas- 
ure invade  them  from  the  sky  1  Against  an 
army  sailing  through  the  clouds,  neither 
walls,  nor  mountains,  nor  seas,  could  atlbrd 
any  security.  A  flight  of  northern  savages 
miffht  hover  in  the  wind  and  light  at  once 
with  irresistible  violence  upon  the  capital 
of  a  fruitful  region  that  was  rolling  under 
them.  Even  this  valley,  the  retreat  of 
princes,  tlie  abode  of  happiness,  might  be 
violated  by  the  sudden  descent  of  some  of 
the  naked  nations  that  swarm  on  the  coast 
of  the  southern  sea." 

The  prince  promised  secrecy,  and  waited 
for  the  performance,  not  wholly  hopeless  of 
success.  He  visited  the  work  from  time  to 
time,  observed  its  progress,  and  remarked 
many  ingenious  contrivances  to  facilitate 
motion,  and  unite  levity  with  strength. 
The  artist  was  every  day  more  certain  that 
he  should  leave  vultures  and  eagles  behind 
him,  and  the  contagion  of  his  confidence 
seized  upon  tlie  prince. 

In  a  year  tlie  wings  were  finished,  and, 
on  a  morning  appointed,  the  maker  appear- 


RASSELAS.  23 

ed  furnished  for  flight  on  a  little  promonto- 
ry :  he  waved  his  pinions  awhile  to  gather 
air,  then  leaped  from  his  stand,  and  in  an 
instant  dropped  into  the  lake.  His  wings, 
which  were  of  no  use  in  the  air,  sustained 
him  in  the  water,  and  the  prince  drew  him 
to  land   half  dead  with  terror  and  vexation. 


CHAPTER   Vn. 

THE   PRINCE   FIXD3   A   MAX   OF   LEARNING. 

The  prince  was  not  much  afflicted  by 
this  disaster,  having  suffered  himself  to 
hope  for  a  happier  event,  only  because  he 
had  no  other  means  of  escape  in  view.  He 
still  persisted  in  his  design  to  leave  the 
happy  valley  by  the  first  opportunity. 

His  imagination  was  now  at  a  stand ;  he 
had  no  prospect  of  entering  into  the  world  ; 
and,    notwithstanding   all    his    endeavours 
to  support  himself,  discontent  by  degrees 
preyed  upon  him,  and  he  began  again  to  ■ 
lose    his    thoughts    in    sadness,    when   the 
rainy  season,  which   in  these   countries  is  ; 
periodical,  made  it  inconvenient  to  wander  j 
in  the  woods.  j 

The  rain  continued  longer  and  with  n-.ore  j 
violence  than  had  ever  been  known  ;  tne  / 
clouds   broke    on   the    surrounding   moun- 
tains, and  the  torrents  streamed  into  the 


S4  RASSELAS. 

plain  on  every  side,  till  the  cavern  was  too 
narrow  to  discharge  the  water.  The  lake 
overflowed  its  banks,  and  all  the  level  of 
the  valley  was  covered  with  the  inundation. 
The  eminence,  on  which  the  palace  was 
built,  and  some  other  spots  of  rising  ground, 
were  all  that  the  eye  could  now  discover. 
The  herds  and  flocks  left  the  pastures,  and 
both  the  wild  beasts  and  the  tame  retreated 
to  the  mountains. 

This  inundation  confined  all  tlie  princes 
to  domestic  amusements,  and  the  attention 
of  Rasselas  was  particularly  seized  by  a 
poem,  which  Imlac  rehearsed,  upon  the 
various  conditions  of  humanity.  He  com- 
manded the  poet  to  attend  him  in  his  apart- 
ment, and  recite  his  verses  a  second  time  ; 
then  entering  into  familiar  talk,  he  thought 
j  himself  happy  in  having  found  a  man  who 
knew  the  world  so  well,  and  could  so  skil- 
fully paint  the  scenes  of  life.  He  asked  a 
thousand  questions  about  tilings,  to  which, 
though  common  to  all  other  mortals,  his 
confinement  from  childhood  had  kept  him 
a  stranger.  The  poet  pitied  his  ignorance, 
and  loved  his  curiosity,  and  entertained 
him  from  day  to  day  with  novelty  and  in- 
struction, so  that  the  prince  regretted  the 
necessity  of  sleep,  and  longed  till  the  morn- 
ing should  renew  his  pleasure. 

As  they  were  sitting  together,  the  prince 
commanded  Imlac  to  relate  his  history,  and 
to  tell  by  what  accident  he  was  forced,  or 


RASSELAS 


by  what  motive  induced,  to  close  his  life  in 
the  happy  valley.  As  he  was  going  to  be- 
gin his  narrative,  Rasselas  was  called  to  a 
concert,  and  obliged  to  restrain  his  curiosi- 
ty till  the  evening. 


CHAPTER   Vlll. 

THE   HISTORY   OF   IMLAC. 

The  close  of  the  day  is,  in  the  regions  of 
the  torrid  zone,  the  only  season  of  diversion 
and  entertainment,  and  it  was  therefore 
midnight  before  the  music  ceased,  and  the 
princesses  retired.  Rasselas  then  called 
for  his  companion,  and  required  him  to  be- 
gin the  story  of  his  life. 

'^  Sir,"  said  Imlac,  "  my  history  will  not 
be  long  :  the  life  that  is  devoted  to  knowl- 
edg«  passes  silently  away,  and  is  very  little 
diversified  by  events.  To  talk  in  public,  to 
think  in  solitude,  to  read  and  to  hear,  to  in- 
quire and  answer  inquiries,  is  the  business 
of  a  scholar.  He  wanders  about  the  world 
without  pomp  or  terror,  and  is  neither 
!  known  nor  valued  but  by  men  like  himself 

'*  1  was  born  in  the  kingdom  of  Goiama, 
at  no  ^reat  distance  from  the  fountain  of 
the  iSile.  My  father  was  a  wealthy  mer- 
chant, who  traded  between  the  inland  coun- 
tries of  Africa  and  the  ports  of  the  Red  Sea.  j 


26  RASSELAS. 

He  was  honest,  frugal,  and  diligent,  but  of 
mean  sentiments  and  narrow  comprehen- 
sion :  he  desired  only  to  be  rich,  and  to 
conceal  his  riches,  lest  he  should  be  spoil- 
ed by  the  governors  of  the  province." 

"  Surely,-"'  said  the  prince,  "  my  father 
must  be  negligent  of  his  charge,  if  any  man 
in  his  dominions  dares  take  that  which  be- 
longs to  another.  Does  he  not  know  that 
kings  are  accountable  for  injustice  permit- 
ted as  well  as  done  ?  If  I  were  emperor, 
not  the  meanest  of  my  subjects  should  be 
oppressed  with  impunity.  My  blood  boils 
when  I  am  told  that  a  merchant  durst  not 
enjoy  his  honest  gains  for  fear  of  losing 
them  by  the  rapacity  of  power.  Name  the 
governor  who  robbed  the  people,  that  I  may 
declare  his  crimes  to  the  emperor." 

"  Sir,"  said  Imlac,  "your  ardor  is  the 
natural  effect  of  virtue  animated  by  youth  : 
the  time  v.ill  come  when  you  will  acquit 
your  father,  and  perhaps  hear  with  less  im- 
patience of  the  governor.  Oppression  is, 
in  the  Abyssinian  dominions,  neither  fre- 
quent nor  tolerated  5  but  no  form  of  govern- 
ment has  yet  been  discovered,  by  which 
cruelty  can  be  wholly  prevented.  Subor- 
dination sup])oses  power  on  one  part,  and 
sul)jcction  on  the  other ;  and  if  power  be 
in  the  hands  of  men,  it  will  sometimes  be 
abused.  The  vigilance  of  the  supreme  ma- 
gistrate may  do  much, but  much  will  still  re- 
main undone.     He  can  never  know  all  the 


RASSELAS.  27 

crimes  that  are  committed,  and  can  seldom 
punish  all  that  he  knows."' 

"  This,"  said  the  prince,  "  I  do  not  under- 
stand, but  I  had  rf-ther  hear  thee  than  dis- 
pute.    Continue  thy  narration." 

"My  father,"  proceeded  Imlac,  "  origi- 
nally intended  that  I  should  have  no  other 
education  than  such  as  might  qualify  nie  for 
commerce  ;  and,  discovering  in  me  great 
strength  of  memory  and  quickness  of  appre- 
hension, often  declared  his  hope  that  I 
should  be  some  time  the  richest  man  in 
Abyssinia." 

"  Why/'  said  the  prince,  "  did  thy  father 
desire  the  increase  of  his  wealth,  when  it 
was  already  greater  than  he  durst  discoverer 
enjoy  ?  1  am  unwilling  to  doubt  thy  veraci- 
ty, yet  inconsistencies  cannot  both  be  true." 
"  Inconsistencies,"  answered  Imlac, 
"  cannot  both  be  right,  but,  imputed  to 
man,  they  may  both  be  true.  Yet  diversity 
is  not  inconsistency.  My  father  might  ex- 
pect a  time  of  great  security.  However, 
some  desire  is  necessary  to  keep  life  in 
motion,  and  he,  whose  real  wants  are  sup- 
plied, must  admit  those  of  fancy." 

''  This,"  said  the  prince.  "  I  can  in  some 
measure  conceive.  I  repent  that  I  inter- 
rupted thee." 

''  With  this  hope,"  proceeded  Tmlac,  "  he 
sent  me  to  school ;  but  when  I  had  once 
found  the  delight  of  knowledge,  and  felt  the 
pleasure  of  intelligence  and  the  pride  of  in- 


28  RASSELAS. 


"1 


vention,  I  began  silently  to  despise  riches, 
and  determined  to  disappoint  the  purpose  of 
my  father,  whose  grossness  of  conception 
raised  my  pity.  I  was  twenty  years  old  be- 
fore his  tenderness  would  expose  me  to  the 
fatigue  of  travel,  in  Avhich  time  I  had  been 
instructed  by  successive  masters,  in  all  the 
literature  of  my  native  country.  As  every 
hour  taught  me  something  new,  I  lived  in  a 
continual  course  of  gratifications  ;  but,  as  I 
advanced  to  manhood,  I  lost  much  of  the 
reverence  with  which  I  had  been  used  to 
look  on  my  instructors  ;  because  when  the 
lesson  was  ended,  I  did  not  find  them  wiser 
or  better  than  common  men. 

"  At  length  my  father  resolved  to  initiate 
me  in  commerce  :  and  opening  one  of  his 
subterranean  treasuries,  counted  out  ten 
thousand  pieces  of  gold.  '  This, young  man,' 
said  he,  '  is  the  stock  with  which  you  must 
negotiate.  I  began  with  less  than  the  fifth 
part,  and  you  see  how  diligence  and  parsi- 
mony have  increased  it.  This  is  your  own 
to  waste  or  to  improve.  If  you  squander  it 
by  negligence  or  caprice,  you  must  wait  for 
my  death  before  you  will  be  rich  ;  if,  in 
four  years,  you  double  your  stock,  wc  will 
thenceforward  let  subordination  cease,  and 
live  together  as  friends  and  partners  ;  for  he 
shall  always  be  equal  with  mc,  who  is 
equally  skilled  in  the  art  of  growing  rich." 

"  We  laid  our  money  upon  camels,  con- 
cealed in  bales  of  cheap  goods,  and  travelled 


RASSELAS.  29 

to  the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea.     When  I  cast 

my  eye  on  the  expanse  of  waters,  my  heart 

bounded  like  that  of  a  prisoner  escaped.    I 

felt  an  unextinguishable  curiosity  kindle  in 

my  mind,  and  resolved  to  snatch  this  oppor- 

'  tunity  of  seeing  the  manners  of  other  na- 

I  tions,  and  of  learning  sciences  unknown  in 

;  Abyssinia. 

"  I  remembered  that  my  father  had  obliged 
me  to  the  improvement  of  my  stock,  not 
by  a  promise  which  I  ought  not  to  violate, 
but  by  a  penalty  which  I  was  at  liberty  to 
incur}  and  therefore  determined  to  gratify 
my  predominant  desire,  and  by  drinking  at 
the  fountains  of  knowledge,  to  quench  the 
thirst  of  curiosity. 

"  As  I  was  supposed  to  trade  without  con- 
nexion with  my  father,  it  was  easy  for  me  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  master  of  a  ship 
and  procure  a  passage  to  some  other  coun- 
try. I  had  no  motives  of  choice  to  regulate 
my  voyage  5  it  was  sufficient  for  me  that, 
wherever  I  wandered,  I  should  see  a  country 
which  I  had  not  seen  before.  I  therefore 
■.  entered  a  ship  bound  for  Surat,  having  left  a 
I  letter  for  my  father,  declaring  my  intention." 


30  RASSELAS. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   HISTORY   OF  IMLAC   CONTINUED. 

"  When  I  first  entered  upon  the  world 
of  waters,  and  lost  sight  of  land  I  looked 
round  about  me  with  pleasing  terror,  and, 
thinking  my  soul  enlarged  by  the  boundless 
prospect,  imagined  that  I  could  gaze  round 
for  ever  without  satiety  5  but,  in  a  short 
time,  I  grew  weary  of  looking  on  barren 
uniformity,  where  I  could  only  see  again 
what  I  had  already  seen.  I  then  descend- 
ed into  the  ship,  and  doubted  for  a  while 
whether  all  my  future  pleasures  would  not 
end  like  this,  in  disgust  and  disappointment. 
Yet,  surely,  said  I,  the  ocean  and  the  land 
are  very  different  3  tlie  only  variety  of  water 
is  rest  and  motion,  but  the  earth  has  moun- 
tains and  valleys,  deserts  and  cities  ;  it  is  in- 
habited by  men  of  different  customs  and  con- 
trary opinions  5  and  I  may  hope  to  find  varie- 
ty in  life,  though  I  should  miss  it  in  nature. 

"  With  this  thouglit  1  quieted  my  mind, 
and  amused  myself  during  the  voyage, 
sometimes  by  learning  from  the  sailors  the 
art  of  navigation,  which  I  have  never  prac- 
tised, and  sometimes  by  forming  schemes 
for  my  conduct  in  different  situations,  in 
not  one  of  which  I  have  been  ever  placed. 

"  I  was  almost  weciry  of  my  naval  amuse 


RASSELAS. 


-^ 


merits  when  we  landed  safely  at  Surat.  I 
secured  my  money,  and,  purchasing  some 
commodities  for  show,  joined  myself  to  a 
caravan  that  was  passing  into  the  inland 
country.  My  companions,  for  some  reason 
or  other,  conjecturing  that  I  was  rich,  and, 
by  my  inquiries  and  admiration,  finding  that 
I  was  ignorant,  considered  me  as  a  novice 
whom  they  had  a  right  to  cheat,  and  who 
was  to  learn  at  the  usual  expense  the  art  of 
fraud.  They  exposed  me  to  the  theft  of 
servants  and  the  exaction  of  ofRcers,  and 
saw  me  plundered  upon  false  pretences, 
without  any  advantage  to  themselves,  but 
that  of  rejoicing  in  the  superiority  of  their 
own  knowledge." 

"  Stop  a  moment,"  said  the  prince.  "  Is 
there  such  depravity  in  man,  as  that  he 
should  injure  another  without  benefit  to 
himself?  I  can  easily  conceive  that  all  are 
pleased  with  superiority  ;  but  your  igno- 
rance was  merely  accidental,  which  being 
neither  your  crime  nor  your  folly,  could  af- 
ford them  no  reason  to  applaud  themselves  ; 
and  the  knowledge  which  they  had,  and 
which  you  wanted,  they  might  as  effectually 
have  shown  by  warning  as  betraying  you." 

"  Pride,"  said  Imlac,  "  is  seldom  delicate, 
it  will  please  itself  with  very  mean  advan- 
tages ;  and  envy  feels  not  its  own  happi- 
ness, but  when  it  may  be  compared  with 
tlie  misery  of  others.  'They  were  my  ene- 
mies, because  they  grieved   to   think  me 


32  RASSELAS. 

rich  ;  and  my  oppressors,  because  they  de- 
lighted to  find  me  weak." 

'■  Proceed/'  said  the  prince  ;  "  I  doubt  not 
of  the  facts  which  you  relate,  but  imagine 
that  you  impute  them  tc  mistaken,  motives." 

"  in  this  company,"  said  Imlac,  "  I  arriv- 
ed at  Agra,  the  capital  of  Indostan,  the  city 
in  which  the  great  Mogul  commonly  re- 
sides. I  applied  myself  to  the  language  of 
the  country,  and  in  a  few  months  was  able 
to  converse  with  the  learned  men,  some  of 
whom  r  found  morose  and  reserved,  and 
others  easy  and  communicative  5  some  were 
unwilling  to  teach  another  what  they  had 
with  difficulty  learned  themselves  5  and 
some  showed  that  the  end  of  their  studies 
was  to  gain  the  dignity  of  instructing. 

''  To  the  tutor  of  the  young  princes  I  rec- 
ommended myself  so  much,  that  I  was  pre- 
sented to  the  emperor  as  a  man  of  uncom- 
mon knowledge.  The  emperor  asked  me 
many  questions  concerning  my  country  and 
my  travels  ;  and  though  I  cannot  now  recol- 
lect any  thing  that  he  uttered  above  the 
power  of  a  common  man,  he  dismissed  me 
astonished  at  his  wisdom,  and  enamoured 
of  his  goodnoss. 

"  My  credit  was  now  so  high  that  the  mer- 
chants, with  whom  I  had  travelled,  applied 
to  me  for  recommendations  to  the  ladies  of 
the  court.  I  was  surprised  at  their  confi- 
dence of  solicitation,  and  gently  reproach- 
ed them  with  their  practices  on  the  road. 


RASSKLAS.  So 

They  heard  me  with  cold  indifference,  and 
showed  no  tokens  of  shame  or  sorrow. 

"  They  then  urged  their  request  witli  the  i 
offer  of  a  bribe  ;  but  what  I  would  not  do 
for  kindness,  I  would  not  do  for  money,  and 
refused  them,  not  because  they  had  injured 
me,  but  because  I  would  not  enable  them 
to  injure  others  ;  for  1  knew  they  would 
have  made  use  of  my  credit  to  cheat  those 
who  should  buy  their  wares. 

"  Having  resided  at  Agra  till  there  was  no 
more  to  be  learned,  I  travelled  into  Persia, 
where  I  saw  many  remains  of  ancient  mag- 
nificence, and  observed  many  new  accom- 
modations of  life.  The  Persians  are  a  na- 
tion eminently  social,  and  their  assemblies 
afforded  me  daily  opportunities  of  remark- 
ing characters  and  manners,  and  of  tracing 
human  nature  through  all  its  variations. 

From  Persia  I  passed  into  Arabia,  where 
I  saw  a  nation  at  once  pastoral  and  warlike  ; 
who  live  without  any  settled  habitation  ; 
whose  only  wealth  is  their  flocks  and  herds, 
and  who  have  yet  carried  on,  through  all 
ages,  an  hereditary  war  with  all  mankind, 
though  they  neither  covet  nor  envy  their 
possessions." 


31  RASSBLAS. 


CHAPTER  X. 

IMLAC'S    HISTORY    CONTINUED.      A   DISSERTATION 
UPON   POETRY. 

"  Wherever  I  went,  I  found  that  poetry 
was  considered  as  the  highest  learning,  and 
regarded  with  a  veneration  somewhat  ap- 
proaching to  that  which  man  would  pay  to 
the  Angelic  Nature.  And  yet  it  fills  me  with 
wonder,  that,  in  almost  all  countries,  the 
most  ancient  poets  are  considered  as  the 
best ;  whether  it  be  that  every  other  kind  of 
knowledge  is  an  acquisition  gradually  attain- 
ed, and  poetry  is  a  gift  conferred  at  once  ; 
or  that  the  first  poetry  of  every  nation  sur- 
prised them  as  a  novelty,  and  retained  the 
credit  by  consent,  which  it  received  by  ac- 
cident at  first ;  or  whether,  as  the  province 
of  poetry  is  to  describe  nature  and  passion, 
which  are  always  the  same,  the  first  writers 
took  possession  of  the  most  striking  objects  j 
for  description,  and  the  most  probable  oc- 
currences for  fiction,  and  left  nothing  to  , 
those  that  followed  them,  but  transcription 
of  the  same  events,  and  new  combinations 
of  the  same  images.  Whatever  be  the  rea- 
son, it  is  commonly  observed  that  the  early 
writers  are  in  possession  of  nature,  and 
their  followers  of  art ;  that  the  first  excel 


RASSELAS.  35 

In  strength  and  invention,  and  the  latter  in 
elegance  and  refinement. 

"I  was  desirous  to  add  my  name  to  this 
illustrious  fraternity.  I  read  all  the  poets  of 
Persia  and  Arabia,  and  was  able  to  repeat  by 
memory  the  volumes  that  are  suspended  in 
the  Mosque  of  Mecca.  But  I  soon  found 
that  no  man  was  ever  great  by  imitation. 
My  desire  of  excellence  impelled  me  to 
transfer  my  attention  to  nature  and  to  life. 
Nature  was  to  be  my  subject,  and  men  to  be 
my  auditors  :  I  could  never  describe  what  I 
had  not  seen  :  I  could  not  hope  to  move 
those  with  delight  or  terror,  whose  interests 
and  opinions  I  did  not  understand. 

"  Being  now  resolved  to  be  a  poet,  I  saw 
every  thing  with  a  new  purpose  ;  my  sphere 
of  attention  was  suddenly  magnified  :  no 
kind  of  knowledge  was  to  be  overlooked. 
I  ranged  mountains  and  deserts  for  images 
and  resemblances,  and  pictured  upon  my 
mind  every  tree  of  the  forest  and  flower  of 
the  valley.  I  observed  with  equal  care  the 
crags  of  the  rock  and  the  pinnacles  of  the 
palace.  Sometimes  I  wandered  along  the 
mazes  of  tne  rivulet,  and  sometimes  watch- 
ed the  changes  of  the  summer  clouds.  To 
a  poet  nothing  can  be  useless.  Whatever 
is  beautiful  and  whatever  is  dreadful  must 
be  familiar  to  his  imagination  :  he  must  be 
conversant  with  all  that  is  awfully  vast  or 
elegantly  little.  The  plants  of  the  garden. 
the  animals  of  the  wood,  the  minerals  of 


36  RASSELAS. 

the  earth  and  meteors  of  the  sky,  must  all 
concur  to  store  his  mind  with  inexhaustible 
variety  :  for  every  idea  is  useful  for  the  en- 
forcement or  decoration  of  moral  or  reli- 
gious truth  ;  and  he  who  knows  most  xvill 
have  most  power  of  diversifying  his  scenes, 
and  of  gratifying  his  reader  with  remote 
allusions  and  unexpected  instruction. 

"  All  the  appearances  of  nature  I  was 
therefore  careful  to  study,  and  every  coun- 
try which  I  have  surveyed  has  contributed 
something  to  my  poetical  powers." 

"  In  so  wide  a  survey,"  said  the  prince, 
"  you  must  surely  have  left  much  unobserv- 
ed. I  have  lived  till  now,  within  the  circuit 
of  these  mountains,  and  yet  cannot  walk 
abroad  without  the  sight  of  something 
which  I  had  never  beheld  before  or  never 
heeded." 

"  The  business  of  a  poet,"  said  Imlac,  "  is 
to  examine,  not  the  individual,  but  the  spe- 
cies ;  to  remark  general  properties  and  large 
appearances ;  he  does  not  number  the 
streaks  of  the  tulip,  or  describe  the  different 
shades  in  the  verdure  of  the  forest.  He  is 
to  exhibit  in  his  portraits  of  nature  such 
prominent  and  striking  features,  as  recall  the 
original  to  every  mind ;  and  must  neglect 
the  minuter  discriminations,  which  one  may 
have  remarked,  and  another  have  neglected, 
for  those  characteristics  which  are  alike 
obvious  to  vigilance  and  carelessness. 

"  But  the  knowledge  of  nature  is  only  half 


RASSBLAS.  37 

the  task,  of  a  poet  j  he  must  be  acquainted 
likewise  with  all  the  modes  of  life.  His 
character  requires  that  he  estimate  the  hap- 
piness and  misery  of  every  condition  3  ob- 
serve the  power  of  all  the  passions  in  all 
their  combinations,  and  trace  the  changes 
of  tlie  human  mind  as  they  are  modified  by  ' 
I  various  institutions  and  accidental  influeu 
ces  of  climate  or  custom,  from  the  sprightli- 
ness  of  infancy  to  the  despondence  of  de- 
crepitude. He  must  divest  himself  of  the 
prejudices  of  his  age  or  country  ;  he  must 
consider  right  and  wrong  in  their  abstracted 
and  invariable  state  5  he  must  disregard 
present  laws  and  opinions,  and  rise  to  gen- 
eral and  transcendental  truths,  which  will 
always  be  the  same }  he  must  therefore 
content  himself  with  the  slow  progress  of 
his  name  5  contemn  the  applause  of  his  own 
time,  and  commit  his  claims  to  the  justice 
of  posterity.  He  must  write  as  the"  inter- 
preter of  nature,  and  the  legislator  of  man- 
kind, and  consider  himself  as  presiding 
over  the  thoughts  and  manners  of  future 
generations  ;  as  being  superior  to  time  and 
place. 

"  His  labor  is  not  yet  at  an  end  :  he  must 
know  many  languages  and  many  sciences  ; 
and,  that  his  style  may  be  worthy  of  his 
thoughts,  must,  by  incessant  practice,  fa- 
miliarize to  himself  every  delicacy  of 
speech  and  grace  of  harmony." 


38  RAitSELAS. 


CHAPTER  Xr. 

IMLAC'S    NARRATIVE    CONTINUED.      A   HINT    ON 
PILGRIMAGE. 

I.MLAC  now  felt  the  enthusiastic  fit,  and 
was  proceeding  to  aggrandize  his  own 
profession,  when  the  prince  cried  out, — 
'•  Enough  !  thou  hast  convinced  me  that  no 
human  being  can  ever  be  a  poet.  Pro- 
ceed with  thy  narration." 

''To  be  a  poet,"  said  Imlac,  "  is  indeed 
very  difficult."  "  So  difficult,"  returned 
the  prince,  "  that  I  will  at  present  hear  no 
more  of  his  labors.  Tell  me  whither  you 
went  when  you  had  seen  Persia." 

"  From  Persia,"  said  the  poet,  "  I  travel- 
led through  Syria,  and  for  three  years  re- 
sided in  Palestine,  where  I  conversed  with 
great  numbers  of  the  northern  and  western 
nations  of  Europe  ;  the  nations  which  are 
now  in  possession  of  all  power  and  all 
knowledge  :  whose  armies  are  irresistible, 
and  whose  fleets  command  tlie  remotest 
parts  of  the  globe.  When  I  compared  these 
men  with  the  natives  of  our  own  kingdom, 
and  tliose  that  surround  us,  they  appeared 
almost  another  order  of  beings.  In  their 
countries,  it  is  difficult  to  wish  for  any  thing 
tliat  may  not  be  obtained  :  a  thousand  arts, 


RASSELAS.  39 

of  which  we  never  heard,  are  continually 
laboring  for  their  convenience  and  pleas- 
ure ;  and  whatever  their  own  climate  has  de- 
nied them,  is  supplied  by  their  commerce." 

"  By  what  means,"  said  the  prince, '  are 
the  Europeans  thus  powerful ;  or  why,  since 
they  can  so  easily  visit  Asia  and  Africa  for 
trade  or  conquest,  cannot  the  Asiatics  and 
Africans  invade  their  coasts,  plant  colonies 
in  their  ports,  and  give  laws  to  their  natural 
princes  ?  The  same  wind  that  carries  them 
back  woi''d  bring  us  thither." 

''  They  are  more  powerful,  Sir,  than  we," 
answered  Imlac,  "  because  they  are  wiser  ; 
knowledge  will  always  predominate  over  ig- 
norance, as  man  governs  the  other  animals. 
But  why  their  knowledge  is  more  than  ours, 
I  know  not  what  reason  can  be  given,  but  the 
unsearchable  will  of  the  Supreme  Being." 

"  When,"  said  the  prince  with  a  sigh, 
•'  shall  I  be  able  to  visit  Palestine,  and  min- 
gle with  this  mighty  confluence  of  nations  ? 
Till  that  happy  moment  shall  arrive,  let  me 
fill  up  the  time  with  such  representations 
as  thou  canst  give  me.  1  am  not  ignorant 
of  the  motive  that  assembles  such  numbers 
in  that  place  and  cannot  but  consider  it  as  j 
the  centre  of  wisdom  and  piety,  to  which  ^ 
th3  best  and  wisest  men  of  every  land  must 
be  continually  resorting." 

'■'  There  are  some  nations,"  said  Imlac, 
"  that  send  few  visitants  to  Palestine ;  for 
manv  numerous  and  learned  sects  in  Eu- 


'U)  RASSELAS. 

rope  concur  to  censure  pilgrimage  as  su 
perstitious,  or  deride  it  as  ridiculous. " 
"  You  know/'  said  the  prince,  "how  lit- 
!  tie  my  life  has  made  me  acquainted  with 
diversity  of  opinions:  it  will  be  too  long  to 
hear  the  arguments  on  both  sides  ;  you  that 
have  considered  them,  tell  me  the  result." 
'■'  Pilgrimage,"  said  Imlac,  "  like  many 
other  acts  of  piety,  may  be  reasonable  or  su- 
perstitious, according  to  the  principles  up- 
on v/hich  it  is  performed.  Long  journeys 
in  search  of  truth  are  not  commanded. 
Truth. such  as  is  necessary  to  the  regulation 
of  life,  is  always  found  where  it  is  honestly 
sought.  Change  of  place  is  no  natural  cause 
of  the  increase  of  piety,  for  it  inevitably 
p.'oduces  dissipation  of  mind.  Yet,  since 
men  go  every  day  to  view  the  fields  where 
gieat  actions  have  been  performed,  and  re- 
turn with  stronger  impressions  of  the  event, 
curiosity  of  the  same  kind  may  naturally 
dispose  us  to  view  that  country  whence  our 
religion  had  its  beginning  ;  and  I  believe  no 
man  surveys  those  awful  scenes  without 
some  confirmation  of  holy  resolutions. 
That  the  Supreme  Being  may  be  more  ea- 
sily propitiated  in  one  place  than  in  another 
is  the  dream  of  idle  superstition ;  but  that 
some  places  may  operate  upon  our  own 
minds  in  an  uncommon  manner,  is  an  opin- 
ion which  Jiourly  experience  will  justify. 
fie  who  supposes  that  his  vices  may  be 
more  successfully  combated  in  Palestine, 


RASSELAS.  41 

will,  perhaps,  find  himself  mistaken  5  yet  he 
may  go  thither  without  folly  :  he  who  thinks 
they  will  be  more  freely  pardoned  dishon- 
ors at  once  his  reason  and  religion." 

"  These,"  said  the  prince,  "  are  Europe- 
an distinctions.  I  will  consider  them  an- 
other time.  What  have  you  found  to  be  the 
effect  of  knowledge  ?  Are  those  nations 
happier  than  we  ?  " 

"  There  is  so  much  infelicity,"  said  the 
poet,  "  in  the  world,  that  scarce  any  man  has 
leisure  from  his  own  distresses  to  esti- 
mate the  comparative  happiness  of  others. 
Knowledge  is  certainly  one  of  the  means 
of  pleasure,  as  is  confessed  by  the  natural 
desire  which  every  mind  feels  of  increasing 
its  ideas.  Ignorance  is  mere  privation,  by 
which  nothing  can  be  produced  :  it  is  a  va- 
cuity in  which  the  soul  sits  motionless  and 
torpid  for  want  of  attraction  ;  and,  without 
knowing  why,  we  always  rejoice  when  we 
learn,  and  grieve  when  we  forget.  I  am 
therefore  inclined  to  conclude,  that  if  noth- 
ing counteracts  the  natural  consequence  of 
learning,  we  grow  more  happy  as  our  minds 
take  a  wider  range. 

'•'  In  enumerating  the  particular  comforts 
of  life,  we  shall  find  many  advantages  on  the 
side  of  the  Europeans.  They  cure  wounds 
and  diseases  with  which  we  languish  and 
perish.  We  suffer  inclemencies  of  weather 
which  they  can  obviate.  They  have  engines 
for  the  despatch  of  many  laborious  works 


42  RASSELAS. 

which  we  must  perform  by  manuU  industry. 
There  is  such  communication  between  dis- 
tant places  that  one  Iriend  can  hardly  be  said 
to  be  absent  from  another.  Their  policy 
removes  all  public  inconveniences :  they 
have  roads  cut  through  their  mountains, 
and  bridges  laid  upon  their  rivers.  And,  if 
we  descend  to  the  privacies  of  life,  their 
habitations  are  more  commodious,  and  their 
possessions  arc  more  secure." 

"  They  are  surely  happy,"  said  the 
prince,  "  who  have  all  these  conveniences, 
of  which  I  envy  none  so  much  as  the  facil- 
ity with  which  separated  friends  inter- 
change their  thoughts." 

"  The  Europeans,"  answered  Imlac,  "  are 
less  unliappy  than  we,  but  they  are  not  hap- 
py. Human  life  is  everywhere  a  state  in 
which  much  is  to  be  endured,  and  little  to 
be  enjoyed." 


CHAPTER  XH. 

TUB   STOHY   OF   IMLAC   CONTINUED. 

"  I  AM  not  yet  willing,"  said  the  prince, 
"  to  suppose  that  happiness  is  so  parsimotii- 
ously  distributed  to  mortals  ;  nor  can  be- 
lieve but  that,  if  1  had  the  choice  of  life,  I 
should  be  able  to  till  every  day  with  pleas- 
ure.    I  would  injure  no   man,  and  sliould 


RASSELAS.  43 

provoke  no  resentment :  I  would  relieve 
every  distress,  and  should  enjoy  the  bene- 
dictions of  gratitude.  I  would  choose  my 
friends  among  the  wise,  and  my  wife  among 
the  virtuous  ;  and  therefore  should  be  in  no 
daniier  from  treachery  or  unkindness.  My 
children  should,  by  my  care,  be  learned 
and  pious,  and  would  repay  to  my  age  what 
their  childhood  had  received.  What  would 
dare  to  molest  him  who  might  call  on  every 
side  to  thousands  enriched  by  his  bounty,  or 
assisted  by  his  power  ?  And  why  should  not 
life  glide  quietly  away  in  the  soft  reciproca- 
tion of  protection  and  reverence  ?  All  this 
may  be  done  without  the  help  of  European 
refinements,  which  appear  by  their  effects 
to  be  rather  specious  than  useful.  Let  us 
leave  them,  and  pursue  our  journey." 

"  From  Palestine,"  said  Imlac,  "  1  passed 
through  many  regions  of  Asia,  in  the  more 
civilized  kingdoms  as  a  trader,  and  among 
the  barbarians  of  the  mountains  as  a  pilgrim , 
At  last  I  began  to  long  for  my  native  coun- 
try, that  I  might  repose,  after  my  travels  and 
fatigues,  in  the  places  where  I  had  spent  my 
earliest  years,  and  gladden  my  old  compan- 
ions with  the  recital  of  my  adventures. 
Often  did  I  figure  to  myself  those  with 
whom  I  had  sported  away  the  gay  hours  of 
dawning  life,  sitting  round  me  in  its  even- 
ing, w^ondering  at  my  tales,  and  listening  to 
my  counsels. 

"  When  this  thought  had  taken  possession 


4i  RASSELAS. 

of  my  mind,  I  considered  every  moment  as 
wasted  which  did  not  bring  me  nearer  to 
Abyssinia.  I  hastened  into  Egypt,  and,  not- 
withstanding my  impatience,  was  detained 
ten  months  in  tlie  contemplation  of  its  an- 
cient magnificence,  and  in  inquiries  after 
the  remains  of  its  ancient  learning.  I  found 
in  Cairo  a  mixture  of  all  nations  ;  some 
brought  thither  by  the  love  of  knowledge, 
some  by  the  hope  of  gain,  and  many  by  the 
desire  of  living  after  their  own  manner 
without  observation,  and  of  lying  hid  in  the 
obscurity  of  multitudes  :  for  in  a  city,  pop- 
ulous as  Cairo,  it  is  possible  to  obtain  at  the 
same  time  the  gratifications  of  society,  and 
the  secrecy  of  solitude. 

"  From  Cairo  I  travelled  to  Suez,  and 
embarked  on  the  Red  Sea,  passing  along 
the  coast  till  I  arrived  at  the  port  from 
which  I  had  departed  twenty  years  before. 
Here  I  joined  myself  to  a  caravan,  and  re- 
entered my  native  country. 

'•'  I  now  expected  the  caresses  of  my  kins- 
men, and  the  congratulations  of  my  friends, 
and  was  not  without  hope  that  my  father, 
whatever  value  he  had  set  upon  riches, 
would  own  with  gladness  and  pride  a  son 
who  was  able  to  add  to  the  felicity  and  hon- 
or of  the  nation.  But  I  was  soon  convinced 
that  my  thoughts  were  vain.  IMy  father 
had  been  dead  fourteen  years,  having  divid- 
ed his  wealth  among  my  brothers,  who  were 
removed  to  some  other  provinces.     Of  my 


RASSELAS.  -lo 

companions  the  greater  part  was  in  the 
grave  ;  of  the  rest,  some  could  with  diffi- 
culty remember  me,  and  some  considered 
me  as  one  corrupted  by  foreign  manners. 

•'  A  man  used  to  vicissitudes  is  not  easily 
dejected.     I  forgot,  after  a  time,  my  disap'- 
pointment,  and  endeavoured  to  recommend 
myself  to  the  nobles  of  the  kingdom ;  they  1 
admitted  me  to  their  tables,  heard  my  story,  j 
and  dismissed  me.     I  opened  a  school;  and 
was  prohibited  to  teach.     I  then  resolved  | 
to  sit  down  in  the  quiet  of  domestic  life, 
and  addressed  a  lady  that  was  fond  of  my 
conversation,  but  rejected  my  suit  because 
my  father  was  a  merchant. 

"  Wearied  at  last  with  solicitation  and 
repulses^  I  resolved  to  hide  myself  for  ever 
from  the  world,  and  depend  no  longeron  the 
opinion  or  caprice  of  others.  I  waited  for 
the  time  when  the  gate  of  the  happy  valley 
should  open,  that  I  might  bid  farewell  to 
hope  and  fear  :  the  day  came;  my  perform- 
ance was  distinguished  with  favor,  and  I 
resigned  myself  with  joy  to  perpetual  con- 
finement."' 

'•  Hast  thou  here  found  happiness  at 
last  ?  "  said  Rasselas.  "  Tell  me  without 
reserve  ;  art  thou  content  with  thy  condi- 
tion ?  or  dost  thou  wish  to  be  again  wan- 
dering and  inquiring  ?  All  the  inhabitants 
of  this  valley  celebrate  their  lot,  and,  at 
the  annual  visit  of  the  emperor,  invite  oth- 
ers to  partake  of  their  felicity."' 


46  RASSELAS. 

"  Great  prince,"  said  Imlac,  "  I  shall 
speak  the  truth ;  I  know  not  one  of  all 
your  attendants  who  does  not  lament  the 
hour  when  he  entered  this  retreat.  I  am 
less  unhappy  than  the  rest,  because  I  have 
a  mind  replete  with  images,  which  I  can 
vary  and  combine  at  pleasure.  I  can  amuse 
my  solitude  by  the  renovation  of  the  knowl- 
edge which  begins  to  fade  from  my  memo- 
ry, and  by  recollection  of  the  incidents  of 
my  past  life.  Yet  all  this  ends  in  the  sor- 
rowful consideration,  that  my  acquirements 
are  now  useless,  and  that  none  of  my  pleas- 
ures can  be  again  enjoyed.  The  rest,  whose 
minds  have  no  impression  but  of  the  pres- 
ent moment,  are  either  corroded  by  malig- 
nant passions  or  sit  stupid  in  the  gloom  of 
perpetual  vacancy." 

"  What  passions  can  infest  those,"  said 
the  prince,  "  who  have  no  rivals  ?  We  are 
in  a  place  where  impotence  precludes  mal- 
ice, and  whore  all  envy  is  repressed  by  com- 
munity of  enjoyments." 

"  There  may  be  community,"  said  Imlac, 
"  of  material  possessions,  but  there  can  nev- 
er be  community  of  love  or  of  esteem.  It 
must  happen  that  one  will  please  more  than 
anotlier  ;  he  that  knows  himself  despised 
will  always  be  envious;  and  still  more  en- 
vious and  malevolent,  if  he  is  condemned 
to  live  in  the  presence  of  those  wlio  despise 
liim.  'J'lie  invitations  by  which  they  allure 
otlinrs    to  a  state    which    they  feel    to  be 


R  A  S  S  E  L  A  S.  47 

wretched,  proceed  from  the  natural  malig- 
nity of  hopeless  misery.  They  are  weary 
of  themselves  and  of  each  other,  and  expect 
to  find  relief  in  new  companions.  They 
envy  the  liberty  which  their  folly  has  for- 
feited, and  would  gladly  see  all  mankind 
imprisoned  like  themselves. 

"'  From  this  crime,  however,  I  am  wholly 
free.  jS^o  man  can  say  that  he  is  wretched 
by  my  persuasion.  I  look  with  pity  on  the 
crowds  who  are  annually  soliciting  admis- 
sion to  captivity,  and  wish  that  it  were  law- 
ful for  me  to  warn  them  of  their  danger." 

'Oly  dear  Imlac,"  said  the  prince,  *•  I  will 
open  to  thee  my  whole  heart.  I  have  long 
meditated  an  escape  from  the  happy  valleij. 
I  have  examined  the  mountains  on  every 
side,  but  find  myself  insuperably  barred  ; 
teach  me  the  way  to  break  my  prison  ;  thou 
shalt  be  the  companion  of  my  flight,  the 
guide  of  my  rambles,  the  partner  of  my 
fortune,  and  my  sole  director  in  the  choice 
of  life." 
"  Sir."  answered  the  poet,  "  your  escape 
I  will  be  difficult,  and,  perhaps,  you  may  soon 
I  repent  your  curiosity.  The  world,  which 
you  figure  to  yourself  smooth  and  quiet  as 
the  lake  in  the  valley,  you  will  find  a  sea 
foaming  with  tempests  and  boiling  with  i 
whirlpools  :  you  will  be  sometimes  over- 
whelmed by  the  waves  of  violence,  and 
sometimes  dashed  against  the  rocks  of 
treachery.      Amidst    wrongs    and    frauds, 


48  KASSELAS. 

competitions  and  anxieties,  you  will  wish  a 
thousand  times  for  those  seals  of  quiet,  and 
willingly  quit  hope  to  be  free  from  fear." 

"  Do  not  seek  to  deter  me  from  my  pur- 
pose," said  the  prince;  "  I  am  impatient  to 
see  what  thou  hast  seen;  and,  since  thou 
art  thyself  weary  of  the  valley,  it  is  evident 
that  thy  former  state  was  better  than  this. 
Whatever  be  the  consequence  of  my  ex- 
periment, I  am  resolved  to  judge  with  mine 
own  eyes  of  the  various  conditions  of  men, 
and  then  to  make  deliberately  my  choice  cj 
life." 

"  r  am  afraid,"  said  Imlac,  "you  are  hin- 
dered by  stronger  restraints  than  my  per- 
suasions ;  yet,  if  your  determination  is  fixed, 
I  do  not  counsel  you  to  despair.  Few  things 
are  impossible  to  diligence  and  skill." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

RASSELAS   DISCOVEnS  THE  MEANS  OP  ESCAPE. 

The  prince  now  dismissed  his  favorite  to 
rest,  but  the  narrative  of  wonders  and  nov- 
elties filled  his  mind  with  perturbation.  He 
revolved  all  that  ho  had  heard,  and  prepared 
innumerable  questions  for  the  morning. 

Much  of  his  uneasiness  was  now  remov- 
ed. He  had  a  friend  to  whom  he  could  im- 
part his   tliouirhts,   and  whose  experienct 


KASSELAS.  49 

could  assist  him  in  his  designs.  His  heart 
was  no  longer  condemned  to  swell  with  si- 
lent vexation.  He  thought  that  even  the 
happij  valleij  might  be  endured  with  such  a 
companion  ;  and  that,  if  they  could  range 
the  world  together,  he  should  have  nothing 
further  to  desire. 

In  a  few  days  the  water  was  discharged, 
and  the  ground  dried.  The  prince  and  Im- 
lac  then  walked  out  together  to  converse 
without  the  notice  of  the  rest.  The  prince, 
whose  thoughts  were  always  on  the  wing, 
as  he  passed  by  the  gate,  said,  with  a  coun- 
tenance of  sorrow,  "  Why  art  thou  so 
strong,  and  why  is  man  so  weak  ?  '' 

"  Man  is  not  weak,''  answered  his  com- 
panion ;  "  knowledge  is  more  than  equiva- 
lent to  force.  The  master  of  mechanics 
lauglis  at  strength.  I  can  burst  the  gate, 
but  cannot  do  it  secretly.  Some  other  ex- 
pedient must  be  tried." 

As  they  were  walking  on  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  they  observed  that  the  conies, 
which  the  rain  had  driven  from  their  bur- 
rows, had  taken  shelter  among  the  bushes, 
and  formed  holes  behind  them,  tending  up- 
wards in  an  oblique  line.  "  It  has  been  the 
opinion  of  antiquity,"  said  Imlac,  "  that  hu- 
man reason  borrowed  many  arts  from  the 
instinct  of  animals  5  let  us,  therefore,  not 
think  ourselves  degraded  by  learning  from  f 
the  cony.  We  may  escape  by  piercing  the 
moantain  in  the  same  direction.     We  will 


50  RASSELAS. 

begin  where  the  summit  hangs  over  the 
middle  part,  and  labor  upward  till  we  shall 
issue  up  beyond  the  prominence." 

The  eyes  of  the  prince,  when  he  heard 
this  proposal,  sparkled  with  joy.  The  exe- 
}  cution  was  easy,  and  the  success  certain. 
No  time  was  now  lost.  They  hastened 
early  in  the  morning  to  choose  a  place 
proper  for  their  mine.  They  clambered 
with  great  fatigue  among  crags  and  bram- 
bles, and  returned  without  having  discover- 
ed any  part  that  favored  their  design.  The 
second  and  the  third  day  were  spent  in  the 
same  manner,  and  with  the  same  frustration. 
But,  on  the  fourth,  they  found  a  small  cav- 
ern, concealed  by  a  thicket,  where  they 
resolved  to  make  their  experiment. 

Iinhic  procured  instruments  proper  to 
hew  stone  and  remove  earth,  and  they  fell 
to  their  work  on  the  next  day  with  more 
eagerness  than  vigor.  They  were  present- 
ly exhausted  by  their  efforts,  and  sat  down 
lo  pant  upon  the  grass.  The  prince  for  a 
moment  appeared  to  be  discouraged.  — 
I  "  Sir,"  «!aid  his  companion,  "  practice  will 
i  enable  us  to  continue  our  labor  for  a  longer 
time  ;  mark,  however,  how  far  we  have  ad- 
vanced, and  you  will  find  that  our  toil  will 
flome  time  have  an  end.  Great  works  are 
performed,  not  by  strength  but  persever- 
ance :  yonder  palace  was  raised  by  single 
stones, yet  you  see  its  height  and  spacious- 
ness.    He  that  shall  walk  with  vigor  three 


RASSELAS.  51 

hours  a  day,  will  pass  in  seven  years  a 
space  equal  to  the  circumference  of  the 
globe." 

They  returned  to  their  work  day  after 
day  5  and,  in  a  short  time,  found  a  fissure  in 
the  rock,  which  enabled  them  to  pass  far 
with  very  little  obstruction.  This  Rassebs 
considered  as  a  crood  omen.  ''  Do  not  dis- 
turb your  mind,"  said  Imlac,  "  with  other 
hopes  or  fears  than  reason  may  suggest :  if 
you  are  pleased  with  prognostics  of  good, 
you  will  be  terrified  likewise  with  tokens  of 
evil,  and  your  whole  life  will  be  a  prey  to 
superstition.  Whatever  facilitates  our  work 
is  more  than  an  omen,  it  is  a  cause  of  suc- 
cess. This  is  one  of  those  pleasing  sur- 
prises which  often  happen  to  active  resolu- 
tion. Many  things  difficult  to  design  prove 
easy  to  performance." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

RASSELAS  AND  IMLAC  RECEIVE  AN  UNEXPECTED 
VISIT. 

They  had  now  wrought  their  way  to  the 
middle,  and  solaced  their  toil  with  the  ap- 
proach of  liberty,  when  the  prince,  coming 
down  to  refresh  himself  with  air,  found  his 
■liter  ]^ekayah  standing  before  the  mouth 


52  RASSELAS. 

of  the  cavity.  He  started  and  stood  con- 
fused, afraid  to  tell  his  design,  and  yet 
hopeless  to  conceal  it.  A  few  moments 
determined  him  to  repose  on  her  fidelity, 
and  secure  her  secrecy  by  a  declaration 
without  reserve. 

"Do  not  imagine/'  said  the  princess, 
"  that  I  came  hither  as  a  spy  ;  I  had  long 
observed  from  my  window,  that  you  and 
Imlac  directed  your  walk  every  day  towards 
the  same  point,  but  I  did  not  suppose  you 
had  any  better  reason  for  the  preference 
\  than  a  cooler  shade,  or  more  fragrant  bank; 
nor  followed  you  with  any  other  design  than 
to  partake  of  your  conversation.  Since  then 
not  suspicion  but  fondness  has  detected 
you,  let  me  not  lose  the  advantage  of  my 
discovery.  I  am  equally  weary  of  confine- 
ment with  yourself,  and  not  less  desirous 
of  knowing  what  is  done  or  suffered  in  the 
world.  Permit  me  to  fly  with  you  from  this 
tasteless  tranquillity,  which  will  yet  grow 
more  loathsome  when  you  have  left  me. 
You  may  deny  me  to  accompany  you,  but 
cannot  hinder  me  from  following." 

The  prince,  who  loved  Nekayah  above 
his  other  sisters,  had  no  inclination  to  refuse 
her  request,  and  grieved  that  he  had  lost  an 
opportunity  of  showing  his  confidence  by  a 
voluntary  communication.  It  was  there- 
fore agreed  that  she  should  leave  the  valley 
with  them  ;  and  that,  in  the  mean  time,  she 
should  watch  lest  any  otherstraggler  should, 


RASSELAS.  06 

by  chance  or  curiosity,  follow  them  to  the 
mountain. 

At  length  their  labor  was  at  an  end  ;  they 
saw  light  beyond  the  prominence,  and,  is- 
suing to  the  top  of  the  mountain,  beheld 
the  xXile,  yet  a  narrow  current,  wandering 
beneath  them. 
I  The  prince  looked  round  with  rapture, 
!  anticipated  all  the  pleasures  of  travel,  and 
in  thought  was  already  transported  beyond 
liis  father's  dominions.  Imlac,  though  very 
joyful  at  his  escape,  had  less  expectation  of 
pleasure  in  the  world,  which  he  had  before 
tried,  and  of  which  he  had  been  weary. 

Rasselas  was  so  much  delighted  with  a 
wider  horizon,  that  he  could  not  soon  be 
persuaded  to  return  into  the  valley.  He 
informed  his  sister  that  the  way  was  open, 
and  that  nothing  now  remained  but  to  pre- 
pare for  their  departure. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   PRINCE  AND  PRINCESS   LEAVE  THE  VALLEY, 
AND    Sirs   MANY   WONDERS. 

The  prince  and  princess  had  jewels  suf- 
ficient to  make  them  rich  whenever  they 
came  into  a  place  of  commerce,  which  by 
Imlac's  direction,  they  might  hide  in  their 
clothes  5  and,  on  the  night  of  the  next  full 


54  RASSELAS. 

moon,  all  left  the  valley.  The  princess 
was  followed  only  by  a  single  favorite,  who 
did  not  know  whither  she  was  going. 

They  clambered  tlirough  the  cavity,  and 

•  began  to  go  down  on  the  other  side.     The 

j  princess  and  her  maid    turned  their  eyes 

I  towards  every  part,  and  seeing  nothing  to 

bound  their  prospect,  considered  themselves 

j  as  in  danger  of  being  lost  in  a  dreary  vacui- 

I  ty.     They  stopped  and.  trembled.     "  I  am 

I  almost  afraid,"  said  the  princess,  "  to  begin 

I  a  journey  of  which  I  cannot  perceive  an 

end,  and  to  venture  into  this  immense  plain, 

I  where  I  may  be  approached  on  every  side 

by  men  whom  I  never  saw."     The  prince 

I  felt  nearly  the  same  emotions,  though  he 

thought  it  more  manly  to  conceal  them. 

Imiac  smiled  at  their  terrors,  and  encour- 
aged them  to  proceed ;  but  the  princess 
continued  irresolute  till  she  had  been  im- 
perceptibly drawn  forward  too  far  to  return. 
In  the  morning,  they  found  some  shep- 
herds in  the  field,  wlio  set  milk  and  fruits 
before  them.  The  princess  wondered  that 
she  did  not  see  a  palace  ready  for  her  re- 
ception, and  a  table  spread  with  delicacies  ; 
but,  being  fiiint  and  hungry,  she  drank  the 
milk  and  ate  the  fruits,  and  thouglit  them  of  a 
higher  flavor  than  the  products  of  the  val- 
ley. 

They  travelled  forward  by  easy  journeys, 
being  all  unaccustomed  to  toil  or  difficulty, 
and  knowing  that,  tnough   they  might  be 


RASSELAS.  55 

missed,  they  could  not  be  pursued.  In  a 
few  days  they  came  into  a  more  populous 
region,  where  Imlac  was  diverted  with  the 
admiration  which  his  companions  express- 
ed at  the  diversity  of  manners,  stations, and 
employments. 

Their  dress  was  such  as  might  not  bring 
upon  them  the  suspicion  of  having  any  thing 
to  conceal ;  yet  the  prince,  wherever  lie 
came,  expected  to  be  obeyed,  and  the  prin- 
cess was  frighted,  because  tliose  tliat  came 
into  her  presence  did  not  prostrate  them- 
selves before  her.  Imlac  was  forced  to  ob- 
serve them  with  great  vigilance,  lest  they 
should  betray  their  rank  by  their  unusual 
behaviour,  and  detained  them  several  weeks 
in  the  first  village,  to  accustom  them  to  the 
sight  of  common  mortals. 

By  degrees  the  royal  wanderers  were 
taught  to  understand  that  they  had  for  a 
time  laid  aside  their  dignity,  and  were  to 
expect  only  such  regard  as  liberality  and 
courtesy  could  procure.  And  Imlac,  hav- 
ing, by  many  admonitions,  prepared  them 
to  endure  the  tumults  of  a  port,  and  the 
ruggodness  of  the  commercial  race,  brought 
them  down  to  the  sea  coast. 

The  prince  and  his  sister,  to  whom  every 
tiling  Wvis  new,  were  gratified  equally  at  all 
places,  and  therefore  remained  for  some 
months  at  the  port  without  any  inclination 
to  pass  further.  Imlac  was  "ontent  with 
their  stay,  because  he  did  not   hink  it  safe 


56  RASSELAS. 

to  expose  them,  unpractised  in  the  world, 
to  the  hazards  of  a  foreign  country. 

At  last  he  began  to  fear  lest  they  sho-uld 
be  discovered,  and  proposed  to  fix  a  day  for 
their  departure.  They  had  no  pretensions 
to  judge  for  themselves,  and  referred  the 
whole  scheme  to  his  direction.  He  there- 
fore took  passage  in  a  ship  to  Suez  ;  and, 
I  when  the  time  came,  with  great  difhculty 
prevailed  on  the  princess  to  enter  the  ves- 
sel. They  had  a  quick  and  prosperous 
voyage  ;  and  from  Suez  travelled  by  land  to 
Cairo. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THEY    ENTEn    CAIRO    AND    FIND    EVERY    MAN 
HAPPY. 

As  they  approached  the  city,  which  filled 
the  strangers  with  astonishment.  "  This,'' 
said  Imlac  to  the  prince,  "  is  the  place 
where  travellers  and  merchants  assemble 
from  all  the  corners  of  the  earth.  You  will 
liero  find  men  of  every  character  and  every 
occupation.  Commerce  is  here  honorable  : 
1  will  act  as  a  merchant,  and  you  shall  live  as 
strangers  who  have  no  other  end  of  travel 
than  curiosity  ;  it  will  soon  be  observed 
that  we  are  rich  ;  our  reputation  will  pro- 
cure us  access  to  all  whom  we  shall  desire 


RASSELAS.  57 

to  know  ;  you  will  see  all  the  conditions  of 
humanity,  and  enable  yourself  at  leisure  to 
make  your  choice  of  life  J' 

They  now  entered  the  town,  stunned  by 
the  noise,  and  offended  by  the  crowds.  In- 
struction had  not  yet  so  prevailed  over  hab- 
it, but  that  they  wondered  to  see  them- 
selves pass  undistinguished  along  the  street. 
and  met  by  the  lowest  of  the  people  without 
reverence  or  notice.  The  princess  could 
not  at  first  bear  the  thought  of  being  level- 
led with  the  vulgar,  and  for  some  days 
continued  in  her  chamber,  where  she  was 
served  by  her  favorite  Pekuah,  as  in  the 
palace  of  the  valley. 

Imlac.  who  understood  traffic,  sold  part 
of  the  jewels  the  next  day,  and  hired  a 
house,  which  he  adorned  with  such  magnifi- 
cence, that  he  was  immediately  considered 
as  a  merchant  of  great  wealth.  His  polite- 
ness attracted  many  acquaintance,  and  his 
generosity  made  him  courted  by  many  de- 
pendents. His  table  was  crowded  by  men 
of  every  nation,  who  all  admired  his  knowl- 
edge and  solicited  his  favor.  His  compan- 
ions, not  being  able  to  mix  in  the  conversa- 
tion, could  make  no  discovery  of  their  ig- 
norance or  surprise,  and  were  gradually 
initiated  in  the  world  as  they  gained  knowl- 
edge of  the  language. 

The  prince  had,  by  frequent  lectures, 
been  taught  the  use  and  nature  of  money ; 
but  the  ladies   could   not  for  a  long  time 


58  RASSELAS. 

comprehend  what  the  merchants  did  with 
small  pieces  of  gold  and  silver,  or  why 
things  of  so  little  use  should  be  received 
as  equivalent  to  the  necessaries  of  life. 

They  studied  tlie  language  two  years, 
while  Imlac  was  preparing  to  set  before 
them  the  various  ranks  and  conditions  of 
mankind.  He  grew  acquainted  with  all  who 
had  any  thing  uncommon  in  their  fortune  or 
conduct.  He  frequented  the  voluptuous 
and  the  frugal,  the  idle  and  the  busy,  the 
merchants  and  the  men  of  learning. 

The  prince  being  now  able  to  converse 
with  lluency,  and  having  learned  the  cau- 
tion necessary  to  be  observed  in  his  inter- 
course with  strangers,  began  to  accompany 
Imlac  to  places  of  resort,  and  to  enter  into 
all  assemblies,  that  he  might  make  his  choice 
of  life. 

For  some  time  he  thought  choice  need- 
less, because  all  appeared  to  him  equally 
happy.  VV^herever  he  went  he  met  gayety 
and  kindness,  and  heard  the  song  of  joy  or 
the  laugh  of  carelessness.  He  began  to 
believe  that  the  world  overflowed  with  uni- 
versal plenty,  and  that  nothing  was  withheld 
either  from  want  or  merit  j  that  every  hand 
showered  liberality,  and  every  heart  melted 
with  benevolence:  ''and  who  then,"  said 
he,  ''  will  be  suffered  to  be  wretched  ?  " 

Imlac  permitted  the  pleasing  delusion, 
and  was  unwilling  to  crush  the  hope  of  in- 
ex[)erience,  till  one  day,  having  sat  awhile 


silent,  "I  know  not/'  said  the  prince, 
"  what  can  be  the  reason  that  I  am  more 
unhappy  than  any  of  our  friends.  I  see 
them  perpetually  and  unalterabi}  cheerful. 
but  feel  my  own  mind  restless  and  uneasy. 
I  am  unsatisfied  with  those  pleasures  which 
I  seem  most  to  court.  I  live  in  the  crowds 
of  jollity,  not  so  much  to  enjoy  company 
as  to  shun  myself,  and  am  only  loud  and 
merry  to  conceal  my  sadness." 

"  Every  man,"  said  Imlac,  ''  may,  by  ex- 
amining his  own  mind,  guess  what  passes 
in  the  minds  of  others  :  when  you  feel  that 
your  own  gayety  is  counterfeit,  it  may  just 
ly  lead  you  to  suspect  that  of  your  compan- 
ions not  to  be  sincere.  Envy  is  commonly 
reciprocal.  We  are  long  before  we  are 
convinced  that  happiness  is  never  to  be 
found,  and  each  believes  it  possessed  by 
others  to  keep  alive  the  hope  of  obtainincr 
it  for  himself.  In  the  assemb  y  where  you 
passed  the  last  night,  there  a/peared  sucli 
sprightliness  of  nir  and  vola'ility  of  fancy 
as  might  have  suited  beings  jf  a  higher  or- 
der, formed  to  inhabit  serer.er  regions,  in- 
accessible to  care  or  sorrow  :  yet  believe 
me,  prince,  there  was  not  one  who  did  not 
dread  the  moment  when  solitude  should 
deliver  him  to  the  tyranny  of  reflection." 

"This,"  said  the  prince,   "  may  be  true 

of  others,  since  it  is  true  of  me  :  yet,  wliat- 

ever  be  the  genernl  infelicity  of  man,  one 

I  condition  is  more  happy  than  another,  and 


GO  RASSELAS. 

wisdom  surely  directs  us  to  take  the  least 
evil  ill  the  choice  of  life." 

"  The  causes  of  good  and  evil/'  answer- 
ed Inilac,  "are  so  various  and  uncertain,  so 
often  entangled  with  each  other,  so  diversi- 
fied by  various  relations,  and  so  much  sub- 
ject to  accidents  which  cannot  be  foreseen, 
that  he  who  would  fix  his  condition  upon 
incontestable  reasons  of  preference  must 
live  and  die  inquiring  and  deliberating." 

'•  But  surely,"  said  Rasselas,  "  the  wise 
men,  to  whom  we  listen  with  reverence 
and  wonder,  chose  that  mode  of  life  for 
tliemselves  which  they  thought  most  likely 
to  make  them  happy." 

''  Very  few,"  said  the  poet,  ''  live  by 
ciioice.  Kvery  man  is  placed  in  his  present 
condition  by  causes  which  acted  without  his 
foresight,  and  with  which  he  did  not  always 
willingly  cooperate  ;  and  therefore  you  will 
rarely  meet  one  who  does  not  think  the  lot 
of  his  neighbour  better  than  his  own." 

"  I  am  pleased  to  think,"  said  the  prince. 
'■  that  my  birth  has  given  me  at  least  one 
advantage  over  others,  by  enabling  me  tode- 
torniinc  for  myself  I  have  here  the  world 
before  me  ;  I  will  review  it  at  leisure  :  sure- 
ly happiness  is  somewhere  to  be  found." 


RASSBLAS.  Gl 


CHAPTER  XVir. 

THB   PRINCE    ASSOCIATES   WITH    YOUNG   MEN   OF 
SPIRIT  AND    GAYETV. 

i  Kasselas  rose  next  day,  and  resolved  to 
i  begin  his  experiments  upon  lite.  ''Youth,'" 
cried  he,  "  is  the  time  of  gladness  :  I  will 
join  myself  to  the  young  men,  whose  only 
business  is  to  gratify  their  desires,  and 
whose  time  is  all  spent  in  a  succession  of 
enjoyments." 

To  such  societies  he  was  readily  admit- 
ted ;  but  a  few  days  brought  him  back  weary 
and  disgusted.  Their  mirth  was  without 
images;  their  laughter  without  motive; 
their  pleasures  were  gross  and  sensual,  in 
which  the  mind  had  no  part ;  their  conduct 
was  at  once  wild  and  mean  ;  they  laughed 
at  order  and  at  law,  but  the  frown  of  power 
dejected,  and  the  eye  of  wisdom  abashed 
them. 

The  prince  soon  concluded,  that  he  should 
never  be  happy  in  a  course  of  life  of  whicn 
he  was  ashamed.  He  thought  it  unsuitable 
to  a  reasonable  being  to  act  without  a  plan, 
and  to  be  sad  or  cheerful  only  by  chance. 
''  Happiness,"  said  he,  "  must  be  something 
solid  and  permanent,  without  fear  and  with- 
out uncertainty." 

But  his  young  companions  had  gained  so 


62  RASSBLAS. 

much  of  his  regard  by  their  frankness  and 
courtesy,  that  he  could  not  leave  them  with- 
out warning  and  remonstrance.  "  My 
friends,''  said  he,  "  I  have  seriously  con- 
sidered our  manners  and  our  prospects,  and 
find  that  we  have  mistaken  our  own  interest. 
The  first  years  of  man  must  make  provision 
for  the  last.  He  that  never  thinks  never  can 
be  wise.  Perpetual  levity  must  end  in  igno- 
rance ;  and  intemperance,  though  it  may  fire 
the  spirits  for  an  hour,  will  make  life  short 
or  miserable.  Let  us  cojjsider  that  youth 
is  of  no  long  duration,  and  that  in  maturer 
age,  when  the  enchantments  of  fancy  shall 
cease,  and  phantoms  of  delight  dance  no 
more  about  us,  we  shall  have  no  comforts 
but  the  esteem  of  wise  men,  and  the  means 
of  doing  good.  Let  us,  therefore,  stop, 
while  to  stop  is  in  our  power :  let  us  live 
as  men  who  are  some  time  to  grow  old,  and 
to  whom  it  will  be  the  most  dreadful  of  all 
evils  to  count  their  past  years  by  follies, 
and  to  be  reminded  ot  their  former  luxuri- 
ance of  liealth  only  by  the  maladies  which 
riot  has  produced." 

They  stared  awhile  in  silence  one  upon 
anotlier,  and  at  last  drove  him  away  by  a 
gsneral  chorus  of  continued  laughter. 

Tlie  consciousness  that  his  sentiments  | 
were  just   and    his    intentions    kind,   was 
scarcely  sufficient  to  support  him  against 
the  horror  of  derision.     But  he  recovered 
his  tranquillity  and  pursued  his  search. 


RASSBLAS.  b3 


CHAPTER  XVII I. 

THB   PRINCE   FINDS  A  TVISE   AND    HAPPY   MAN. 

As  he  was  one  day  walking  in  the 
itrtiet,  he  saw  a  spacious  building,  which 
all  were,  by  the  open  doors,  invited  to  en- 
ter. He  followed  the  stream  of  people, 
and  found  it  a  hall  or  school  of  declama- 
tion, in  which  professors  read  lectures  to 
their  auditory.  He  fixed  his  eye  upon  a 
sage  raised  above  the  rest,  who  discoursed 
with  great  energy  on  the  government  of  the 
passions.  His  look  was  venerable,  his  ac- 
tion graceful,  his  pronunciation  clear,  and 
his  diction  elegant.  He  showed,  with  rrrcat 
strength  of  sentiment  and  variety  of  illus- 
tration, that  human  nature  is  degraded  and 
debased,  when  the  lower  faculties  predom- 
inate over  the  higher  ;  that  when  fancv,  the 
parent  of  passion,  usurps  the  dominion  of 
the  mind,  nothing  ensues  but  the  natural 
etfect  of  unlawful  government,  perturbation 
and  confusion  :  that  she  betrays  the  for- 
tresses of  the  intellect  to  rebels,  and  ex- 
cites her  children  to  sedition  against  rea- 
son, their  lawful  sovereign.  Hp  compared 
reason  to  th6  sun,  ot  which  the  light  is 
constant,  uniform,  and  lasting  ;  and  fancy 
to  a  meteor,  of  bright  but  transitory  lustre, 


64  RASSELAS. 

irregular  in  its  motion,  and  delusive  in  its 
direction. 

He  then  communicated  the  various  pre- 
cepts given  from  time  to  time  for  the  con- 
quest of  passion,  and  displayed  the  happi- 
ness of  those  who  had  obtained  the  impor- 
tant victory,  after  which  man  is  no  longer 
the  slave  of  fear,  nor  the  fool  of  hope ;  is 
no  more  emaciated  by  envy,  inflamed  by 
anger,  emasculated  by  tenderness,  or  de- 
pressed by  grief;  but  walks  on  calmly 
through  the  tumults  or  privacies  of  life,  as 
the  sun  pursues  alike  his  course  through 
the  calm  or  the  stormy  sky. 

He  enumerated  many  examples  of  heroes 
immovable  by  pain  or  pleasure,  who  look- 
ed with  indifference  on  those  modes  or  ac- 
cidents to  which  the  vulgar  give  the  ivames 
of  good  and  evil.  He  exhorted  his  hearers 
to  lay  aside  their  prejudices,  and  arm  them- 
selves against  the  shafts  of  malice  or  mis- 
fortune, by  invulnerable  patience  ;  conclud- 
ing, that  this  state  only  was  happiness,  and 
I  tliat  this  happiness  was  in  every  one's 
power. 

Rasselas  listened  to  him  with  the  venera- 
tion due  to  the  instructions  of  a  superior 
being,  and  waiting  for  him  at  the  door, 
Iniinbly  implored  the  liberty  of  visiting  so  j 
great  a  master  of  true  wisdom.  The  lec- 
turer hesitated  a  moment,  when  Rasselas 
put  a  purse  of  gold  into  his  hand,  which  he 
j  received  with  a  mixture  of  joy  and  wonder. 


RASSBLAS.  65 


"  I  have  founJ,"  said  the  prince,  at  his 
return  to  Imlac,  ''  a  man  who  can  teach  all 
that  is  necessary  to  be  known  5  who,  from 
the  unshaken  throne  of  rational  fortitude, 
looks  down  on  the  scenes  of  life  changing 
beneath  him.  He  speaks,  and  attention 
watches  his  lips.  He  reasons,  and  convic- 
tion closes  his  periods.  This  man  shall  be 
my  future  guide  :  I  will  learn  his  doctrines, 
and  imitate  his  life." 

'•  Be  not  too  hasty,"  said  Imlac,  "  to 
trust,  or  to  admire,  the  teachers  of  morali- 
ty ;  they  discourse  like  angels,  but  they 
live  like  men." 

Rasselas,  who  could  not  conceive  how  any 
man  could  reason  so  forcibly  without  feel- 
ing the  cogency  of  his  own  arguments,  paid 
his  visit  in  a  few  days,  and  was  denied  ad- 
mission. He  had  now  learned  the  power 
of  money,  and  made  his  way  by  a  piece  of 
gold  to  the  inner  apartment,  where  he  found 
the  philosopher  in  a  room  half  darkened, 
with  his  eyes  misty,  and  his  face  pale. 
"  Sir,"  said  he,  •'  you  are  come  at  a  time  j 
when  all  human  friendship  is  useless  ;  what  ' 
I  suffer  cannot  be  remedied,  what  I  have  : 
lost  cannot  be  supplied.  My  daughter,  my 
only  daughter,  from  whose  tenderness  I 
expected  all  the  comforts  of  my  age,  died 
last  night  of  a  fever.  My  views,  my  pur- 
poses, my  hopes  are  at  an  end.  I  am  now 
a  lonely  being,  disunited  from  society."        I 

"  Sir,"  said  the  prince,  "  mortality  is  an  • 


66  R  A  S  S  E  L  A  S. 

event  bv  which  a  wise  man  can  never  be 
surprised  :  we  know  that  death  is  alwa^ys 
near,  and  it  should  therefore  always  be  ex- 
pected." "  Young  man,"  answered  the  phi- 
losopher, '•  you  speak  like  one  that  has 
never  felt  the  pangs  of  separation."  "  Have 
you  then  forgot  the  precepts/''  said  Rasse- 
las,  '"which  you  so  powerfully  enforced  ? 
Has  wisdom  no  strength  to  arm  the  heart 
against  calamity  ?  Consider  that  external 
things  are  naturally  variable,  but  truth  and 
reason  are  always  the  same."  "  What  com- 
fort," said  the  mourner,  "  can  truth  and 
reason  atford  me?  of  what  effect  are  they 
now,  but  to  tell  me,  that  my  daughter  will 
not  be  restored  ?  " 

The  prince,  whose  humanity  would  not 
suffer  him  to   insult  misery  with  reproof, 
went  away,  convinced  of  the  emptiness  of  | 
rhetorical  sound,  and  the  inefficacy  of  pol- (. 
ished  periods  and  studied  sentences. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

A  GLIMPSE    OF   PASTORAL  LIFE. 

He  was  still  eager  upon  tho  same  in- 
quiry ;  and  having  heard  of  a  hermit  that 
lived  near  the  lowest  cataract  of  the  Nile, 
and  filled  the  whole  country  with  the  fame 
of  his  sanctitv,  resolved  to  visit  his  retreat, 
I 1 — _ 


RASSBLAS.  67 

and  inquire  whether  that  felicity,  which 
public  life  could  not  afford,  was  to  be  found 
in  solitude  ;  and  whether  a  man,  whose  age 
and  virtue  made  him  venerable,  could  teach 
any  peculiar  art  of  shunning  evils,  or  en- 
during them  ? 

Imiac  and  the  princess  agreed  to  accom- 
j  pany  him,  and,  after  the  necessary  prepara- 
tions, they  began  their  journey.  Their  way 
lay  tlirough  the  fields,  where  shepherds 
tended  their  flocks,  and  the  lambs  were 
playing  upon  the  pasture.  "  This,"  said 
the  poet,  "  is  the  life  which  has  been  often 
celebrated  for  its  innocence  and  quiet;  let 
us  pass  the  heat  of  the  day  among  the  shep- 
herds' tents,  and  know  whether  all  our 
searches  are  not  to  terminate  in  pastoral 
simplicity." 

The  proposal  pleased  them,  and  they  in- 
duced the  shepherds,  by  small  presents  and 
familiar  questions,  to  tell  their  opinion  of 
their  own  state.  They  were  so  rude  and 
ignorant,  so  little  able  to  compare  the  good 
with  the  evil  of  the  occupation,  and  so  in- 
distinct in  their  narratives  and  descriptions, 
that  very  little  could  be  learned  from  them. 
But  it  was  evident,  that  their  hearts  were 
cankered  with  discontent;  that  they  con- 
sidered themselves  as  condemned  to  labor 
for  the  luxury  of  the  rich,  and  looked  up 
with  stupid  malevolence  toward  those  that 
were  placed  above  them. 

The   princess    pronounced   with   vehe- 


I    68  RASSELAS. 

I  mence,  that  she  would  never  suffer  these 
envious  savages  to  be  her  companions,  and 
that  she  should  not  soon  be  desirous  of 
seeing  any  more  specimens  of  rustic  hap- 
piness ;  but  could  not  believe  that  all  the 
accounts  of  primeval  pleasures  were  fabu- 
lous ;  and  was  yet  in  doubt,  whether  life 
had  any  thing  that  could  be  justly  preferred 
to  the  placid  gratifications  of  fields  and 
woods.  She  hoped  that  the  time  would 
come,  when,  with  a  few  virtuous  and  ele- 
gant companions,  she  should  gather  flowers 
planted  by  her  own  hand,  fondle  the  lambs 
of  her  own  ewe,  and  listen,  without  care, 
among  brooks  and  breezes,  to  one  of  her 
maidens  reading  in  the  shade. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE    DANGER   OF   PROSPERITY. 

On   the   next  day  they  continued  their 
journey,  till  the  heat  compelled  them  to 
look  round  for  shelter.     At  a  small  distance 
they  saw  a  thick  wood,  which  they  no  soon- 
er entered  than  they  perceived  that  they  I 
were  approaching  the  habitations  of  men.  \ 
The   shrubs   were   diligently  cut  away  to  ■ 
open  walks  where  the  shades  were  darkest ; 
the  boughs  of  opposite   trees  were  artifi- 
cially interwoven  ;    seats   of   flowery  turf 


R  A  S  S  B  L  A  S.  G9 

were  raised  in  vacant  spaces,  and  a  rivulet, 
that  wantoned  along  the  side  of  a  winding 
path,  had  its  banks  sometimes  opened  into 
small  basins,  and  its  stream  sometimes  ob- 
structed by  iittle  mounds  of  stone,  heaped 
together  to  increase  its  murmurs. 

They  passed  slowly  through  the  wood, 
delighted  with  such  unexpected  accommo- 
dations, and  entertained  each  other  with 
conjecturing  what,  or  who,  he  could  be, 
that,  in  those  rude  and  unfrequented  re- 
gions, had  leisure  and  art  for  such  harmless 
luxury. 

As  they  advanced  they  heard  the  sound 
of  music,  and  saw  youths  and  virgins  danc- 
ing in  the  grove  3  and,  going  still  further, 
beheld  a  stately  palace  built  upon  a  hill 
surrounded  with  woods.  The  laws  of  east- 
ern hospitality  allowed  them  to  enter,  and 
the  master  welcomed  them  like  a  man  lib- 
eral and  wealthy. 

He  was  skilled  enough  in  appearances 
soon  to  discern  that  they  were  no  common 
guests,  and  spread  his  table  with  magnifi- 
cence. The  eloquence  of  Imlac  caught 
his  attention,  and  the  lofty  courtesy  of  the 
princess  excited  his  respect.  When  they 
offered  to  depart  he  entreated  their  stay, 
and  was  the  next  day  still  more  unwilling 
to  dismiss  them  than  before.  They  were 
easily  persuaded  to  stop,  and  civility  grew 
up  in  time  to  freedom  and  confidence. 

The  prince  now  saw  all  the  domestics 


RASSELA! 


clieerful  and  all  the  face  of  nature  smiling 
round  the  place,  and  could  not  forbear  to  ' 
hope  that  he  should  find  here  what  he  was  I 
seeking  5  but,  wlien  he  was  congratulating 
the  master  upon  iiis  possessions,  ho  an» 
swered  with  a  sigh,  "  My  condition  has  in 
deed  the  appearance  of  happiness,  but  ap-' 
pearances  are  delusive.  J\Iy  prosperity 
puts  my  life  in  danger ;  the  Bassa  of  Egypt 
is  my  enemy,  incensed  only  by  my  wealth 
and  popularity.  I  have  been  hitherto  pro- 
tected against  him  by  the  princes  of  the 
country;  but,  as  the  favor  of  tlie  great  is 
uncertain,  I  know  not  how  soon  my  de- 
fenders may  be  persuaded  to  share  the 
plunder  with  the  Bassa.  I  have  sent  my 
treasures  into  a  distant  country,  and,  upon 
the  first  alarm,  am  prepared  to  follow  them. 
Then  will  my  enemies  riot  in  my  man- 
sion, and  enjoy  the  gardens  which  I  iiave 
planted.'-' 

They  all  joined  in  lamenting  his  danger, 
and  deprecating  his  exile  :  and  the  princess 
was  so  much  disturbed  with  the  tumult  of 
grief  and  indignation,  that  she  retired  to  her 
apartment.  They  continued  with  their  kind 
inviter  a  few  diys  longer,  and  then  wentfi  r- 
ward  to  find  the  hermit. 


.ASSELAS.  71 


CHAPTER  XX [. 

THE   liAPPINESS    OP   SOLITUDE.      THE   HERMIT'S 
HISTORY. 

THEt  came  on  the  third  day,  by  the  di- 
rection of  the  peasants,  to  the  hermit's 
cell  :  it  was  a  cavern  in  the  side  of  a  moun- 
tain, overshadowed  with  palm  trees  ;  at 
such  a  distance  from  the  cataract  that  noth- 
ing more  was  heard  than  a  gentle  uniform 
murmur,  such  as  composed  the  mind  to 
pensive  meditation,  especially  when  it  was 
assisted  by  the  wind  whistling  among  the 
branches.  The  first  rude  essay  of  nature 
had  been  so  much  improved  by  human  la- 
bor, that  the  cave  contained  several  apart- 
ments appropriated  to  different  uses,  and 
often  afforded  lodging  to  travellers,  whom 
darkness  or  tempests  happened  to  overtake. 

The  hermit  sat  on  a  bench  at  the  door,  to 
enjoy  the  coolness  of  the  evening-.  On  one 
side  lay  a  book  with  pens  and  papers,  on 
the  other,  mechanical  instruments  of  vari- 
ous kinds.  As  they  approached  him  unre- 
garded, the  princess  observed,  that  he  had 
not  the  countenance  of  a  man  that  had 
ibund,  or  could  teach,  the  way  to  happiness. 

They  saluted  him  with  great  respect, 
which  he  repaid  like  a  man  not  unaccus- 
tomed to  the  forms  of  courts.     "  My  chil- 


72  RASSELAS. 

dren,"  said  he,  "  if  you  have  lost  your  way, 
you  shall  be  willingly  supplied  with  such 
conveniences  for  the  night  as  this  cavern 
will  afford.  I  have  all  that  nature  requires, 
and  you  will  not  expect  delicacies  in  a  her- 
mit's cell." 

They  thanked  him,  and,  entering,  were 
pleased  with  the  neatness  and  regularity  of 
the  place.  The  hermit  set  flesh  and  wine 
before  them,  though  he  fed  only  upon  fruits 
and  water.  His  discourse  was  cheerful 
without  levity,  and  pious  without  enthusi- 
asm. He  soon  gained  the  esteem  of  his 
guests,  and  the  princess  repented  of  her 
hasty  censure. 

At  last  Imlac  began  thus:  "I  do  not 
now  wonder  that  your  reputation  is  so  far 
extended  ;  we  have  heard  at  Cairo  of  your 
wisdom,  and  came  hither  to  implore  your 
(iirection  for  this  young  man  and  maiden  in 
the  choice  of  life." 

'^To  hinri  that  lives  well,"  answered  the 
hermit,  ''every  form  of  life  is  good;  nor 
can  I  give  any  other  rule  for  choice  than  to 
remove  from  all  apparent  evil." 

"  He  will  remove  most  certainly  from 
evil,"  said  the  prince,  "  who  shall  devote 
himself  to  that  solitude  which  you  have 
recommended  by  your  example." 

"  I  have  indeed  lived  fifteen  years  in  sol- 
itude," said  the  hermit,  "but  have  no  de- 
sire that  my  example  should  gain  any  imi- 
tators.    In  my  youth  I  professed  arms,  and 


RASSBLAS.  73 

was  raised  by  degrees  to  the  highest  milita- 
ry rank.  I  have  traversed  wide  countries 
at  the  head  of  my  troops,  and  seen  many 
battles  and  sieges.  At  last,  being  disgusted 
by  the  preferments  of  a  younger  oiBcer, 
and  feeling  that  my  vigor  was  beginning  to 
decay,  I  resolved  to  close  my  life  in  peace, 
having  found  the  world  full  of  snares,  dis- 
cord, and  misery.  I  had  once  escaped  from 
the  pursuit  of  the  enemy  by  the  shelter  of 
this  cavern,  and  therefore  chose  it  for  my 
final  residence.  I  employed  artificers  to 
form  it  into  chambers,  and  stored  it  with 
all  that  I  was  likely  to  want. 

••  For  some  time  after  my  retreat,  I  re- 
joiced like  a  tempest-beaten  sailor  at  his 
entrance  into  the  harbour,  being  delighted 
with  the  sudden  change  of  the  noise  and 
hurry  of  war  to  stillness  and  repose.  When 
the  pleasure  of  novelty  went  away,  I  em- 
ployed my  hours  in  examining  the  plants 
which  grew  in  the  valley,  and  the  minerals 
which  1  collected  from  the  rocks.  But  that 
inquiry  is  now  grown  tasteless  and  irksome. 
I  have  been  for  some  time  unsettled  and 
distracted :  my  mind  is  disturbed  with  a 
thousand  perplexities  of  doubt,  and  vanities 
of  imagination,  which  hourly  prevail  upon 
me,  because  I  have  no  opportunities  of  re- 
laxation or  diversion.  I  am  sometimes 
ashamed  to  think,  that  I  could  not  secure 
myself  from  vice,  but  by  retiring  from  the 
exercise  of  virtue,  and  begin  to  suspect  that 


74  BASSBLAS. 

I  was  rather  impelled  by  resentment,  than 
led  by  devotion,  into  solitude.  My  fancy 
riots  in  scenes  of  folly,  and  I  lament  that 
I  have  lorit  so  much,  and  have  gained  so  lit- 
tle. In  solitude,  if  1  escape  the  example  of 
bad  men,  I  want  likewise  the  counsel  and 
conversation  of  the  good.  I  have  been  long 
comparing  the  evils  with  the  advantages  of 
society,  and  resolve  to  return  into  the  world 
to-morrow.  The  life  of  a  solitary  man  will 
be  certainly  miserable,  but  not  certainly 
devout." 

They  heard  his  resolution  with  surprise, 
but  after  a  short  pause  offered  to  conduct 
him  to  Cairo.  He  dug  up  a  considerable 
treasure  which  he  had  hid  among  the  rocks, 
and  accompanied  them  to  the  city,  on 
which,  as  he  approached  it,  he  gazed  with 
ratpture. 


CHAPTER  XXH. 

THE    HAPPINESS   OP  A  LIFE    LED   ACCORDING  TO 
NATURE. 

Rasselas  went  often  to  an  assembly  of 
learned  men,  who  met  at  stated  times  to 
unbend  their  minds,  and  compare  their 
opinions.  Their  manners  were  somewhat 
coarse,  but  their  conversation  was  instruc- 
tive, and  their  disputations  acute;  though 


EASSELAS.  ,o 

Bometimes  too  violent,  and  often  continued 
till  neither  controvertist  remembered  upon 
what  question  they  began.  Some  faults 
were  almost  general  among  them  :  everv 
one  was  desirous  to  dictate  to  the  rest,  and 
every  one  was  pleased  to  hear  the  genius  or 
knowledge  of  another  depreciated, 
j  In  this  assembly  Rasselas  was  relating 
his  interview  with  the  hermit,  and  the  won- 
der with  which  he  heard  him  censure  a 
course  of  life  which  he  had  so  deliberately 
chosen,  and  so  laudably  followed.  7^he 
sentiments  of  the  hearers  were  various. 
Some  were  of  opinion,  that  the  folly  of  his 
choice  had  been  justly  punished  W  con- 
demnation to  perpetuai  perseverance.  One 
of  the  youngest  among  them,  with  great 
vehemence,  pronounced  him  an  hypocrite. 
Some  talked  of  the  right  of  societv  to  the 
labor  of  individuals,  and  considered  retire- 
ment as  a  desertion  of  duty.  Others  read- 
ily allowed,  that  there  was  a  time  when  the 
claims  of  the  public  w'ere  satisfied,  and 
when  a  man  might  properly  sequester  him- 
self, to  review  his  life  and  purify  his  heart. 
One,  who  appeared  more  affected  with 
the  narrative  than  the  rest,  thought  it  likely 
that  the  hermit  would,  in  a  few  years,  go 
back  to  his  retreat-,  and,  perhaps,  if  shame 
did  not  restrain,  or  death  intercept  him, 
return  once  more  from  his  retreat  into  the 
world  :  "For  the  hope  of  happiness,"  said 
he,    ''is   so  strongly    impressed,    that   the 


7G  RASSELAn. 

longest  experience  is  not  able  to  efface  it. 
Of  the  presentstate,  whatever  it  be,  we  feel, 
and  are  forced  to  confess,  the  misery  5  yet, 
■when  the  same  state  is  again  at  a  distance, 
imagination  paints  it  as  desirable.  But  the 
time  will  surely  come,  when  desire  will  be 
no  longer  our  torment,  and  no  man  shall  be 
wretched  but  by  his  own  fault." 

"This,"  said  a  philosopher,  who  had 
heard  him  with  tokens  of  great  impatience, 
"■'  is  the  present  condition  of  a  wise  man. 
The  time  is  already  come,  when  none  are 
wretched  but  by  their  own  fault.  JN'oth- 
ing  is  more  idle  than  to  inquire  after  nappi- 
ness,  which  nature  has  kindly  placed  within 
our  reach.  The  way  to  be  happy  is  to  live 
according  to  nature,  in  obedience  to  that 
universal  and  unalterable  law  with  which 
every  lieart  is  originally  impressed  ;  which 
is  not  written  on  it  by  precept,  but  engrav- 
en by  destiny  ;  not  instilled  by  education, 
but  infused  at  our  nativity.  He  that  lives 
according  to  nature,  will  suffer  nothing 
from  the  delusions  of  hope,  or  importunities 
of  desire  :  he  will  receive  and  reject  with 
equability  of  temper  ;  and  act  or  sufferas  the 
reason  of  things  shall  alternately  prescribe. 
Other  men  may  amuse  themselves  with 
subtile  definitions,  or  intricate  ratiocina 
tions.  Let  them  learn  to  be  wise  by  easier 
means:  let  them  observe  (he  hind  of  the 
forest,  and  tlie  linnet  of  the  grove  :  let 
them  consider  the  life  of  animals,  whose 


RASSELAS.  77 

motions   are   regulated  by   instinct;   they 
obey  their  guide,  and  are  happy.     Let  us 
therefore,  at  length,  cease  to  dispute,  and 
learn  to  live  :  throw  away  the  incumbrance 
of  precepts,  which   they  who   utter   them 
with   so  much  pride  and  pomp  do  not  un- 
i  derstand,  and  carry  with  us  this  simple  and 
!  intelligible   maxim,  'That   deviation   from 
I  nature  is  deviation  from  happiness.'" 
I       When  he  had  spoken,  he  looked  round 
j  him  with  a  placid  air,  and  enjoyed  the  con- 
'  scinusness  of  his  own  beneficence.     "Sir," 
said  the  prince,  with  great  modesty,  "  as  I, 
like  all  the  rest  of  mankind,  am  desirous  of 
felicity,  my  closest  attention  has  been  fixed 
upon  your  discourse  :  I  doubt  not  the  truth 
of  a  position  which  a  man  so  learned  has 
so   confidently   advanced.      Let    me   only 
know  what  it  is  to  live  according  to  na- 
ture 1" 

'•'  When  I  find  young  men  so  humble  and 
so  docile,"  said  the  philosopher,  ••  I  can 
deny  them  no  information  which  my  studios 
have  enabled  me  to  afford.  To  live  accord- 
ing to  nature,  is  to  act  always  with  due  re- 
gard to  the  fitness  arising  from  the  relations 
and  qualities  of  causes  and  effects  :  to  con- 
cur with  the  great  and  unchangeable  scheme 
of  universal  telicity  ;  to  cooperate  with  the 
general  disposition  and  tendency  of  the 
present  system  of  things." 

The  prince  soon  found,  that  this  was  one 
of  the   sa^es  whom  he  should  understand 


78  RASSELAS. 

less  as  he  heard  him  longer.  He  tlierefore 
bowed  and  was  silent ;  and  the  philoso- 
pher, supposing  him  satisfied,  and  the  rest 
vanquished,  rose  up  and  departed,  with  the 
air  of  a  man  that  had  cooperated  with  the 
present  system. 


CHAPTER  XXni. 

THE   PRINCE   AND    HIS   SISTER   DIVIDE   BETWEEN 
THEM   THE  WORK  OF  OBSERVATION. 

Rasselas  returned  home  full  of  reflec- 
tions, doubtful  how  to  direct  his  future 
steps.  Of  the  way  to  happiness  he  found 
the  learned  and  simple  equally  ignorant ; 
but,  as  he  was  yet  young,  he  flattered  him- 
self that  he  had  time  remaining  for  more 
experiments,  and  further  inquiries.  He 
communicated  to  Imlac  his  observations 
and  his  doubts,  but  was  answered  by  him 
with  new  doubts,  and  remarks  that  gave 
him  no  comfort.  He  therefore  discoursed 
more  frcipicntly  and  freely  with  his  sister, 
who  had  yet  the  same  hope  with  himself, 
and  always  assisted  him  to  give  some  rea- 
son why,  though  he  had  been  hitherto  frus- 

I  tratcd,  lie  might  succeed  at  last. 

I  "  We  liavehitherto,"  said  she,  "  knovn 
but  little  of  the  world;  we  have  never  yet 


RASSELAS.  79 

been  e'ther  great  or  mean.  In  our  own 
country,  though  we  had  royalty,  we  had  no 
power,  and  in  this  we  have  not  yet  seen  the 
private  recesses  of  domestic  peace.  Imlac 
favors  not  our  search,  lest  we  should  in  time 
find  him  mistaken.  We  will  divide  the 
task  between  us  :  you  shall  try  what  is  to 
be  found  in.  the  splendor  of  courts,  and  I 
will  range  the  shades  of  humbler  life. 
Perhaps  command  and  authority  may  be  the 
supreme  blessings,  as  they  afford  most  op- 
portunities of  doing  good ;  or,  perhaps, 
what  this  world  can  give  may  be  found  in 
the  modest  habitations  of  middle  fortune  ; 
too  low  for  great  designs,  and  too  high  for 
penury  and  distress." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE   PRINCE   EXAMINES   THE   HAPPINESS   OF 
HIGH    STATIONS. 

Rasselas  applauded  the  design,  and  ap- 
peared next  day  with  a  splendid  retinue  at 
the  court  of  the  Bassa.  He  was  soon  dis- 
tinguished for  his  magnificence,  and  ad- 
mitted, as  a  prince  whose  curiosity  had 
brought  him  from  distant  countries,  to  an 
intimacy  with  the  great  officers,  and  fre- 
quent conversation  with  the  Bassa  himself. 

He  was  at  first  inclined  to  believe,  that 


80  RASSELAS. 

the  man  must  be  pleased  with  his  own  con- 
dition whom  all  approached  with  rever- 
ence, and  heard  witn  obedience,  and  who 
had  the  power  to  extend  his  edicts  to  a 
whole  kingdom.  "  There  can  be  no  pleas- 
ure," said  he,  '-equal  to  that  of  feeling  at 
once  the  joy  of  thousands,  all  made  happy 
by  wise  administration.  Yet,  since  by  the 
law  of  subordination  this  sublime  delight 
can  be  in  one  nation  but  the  lot  of  one,  it 
is  surely  reasonable  to  think  that  there  is 
some  satisfaction  more  popular  and  acces- 
sible, and  that  millions  can  hardly  be  sub- 
jected to  the  will  of  a  single  man  only  to 
fill  his  particular  breast  with  incommunica- 
ble content." 

These  thoughts  were  often  in  his  mind, 
and  he  found  no  solution  of  the  difficulty. 
But,  as  presents  and  civilities  gained  him 
more  familiarity,  he  found  that  almost  every 
man  who  stood  high  in  employment  hated 
all  the  rest,  and  was  hated  by  them,  and 
that  their  lives  were  a  continual  successjion 
of  plots  and  detections,  stratagems  and  es- 
capes, faction  and  treachery.  Many  of 
those  who  surrounded  the  Bassa,  were 
sent  only  to  watch  and  report  his  conduct; 
every  tongue  was  muttering  censure,  and 
every  eye  was  searching  for  a  fault. 

At  last  the  letters  of  revocation  arrived, 
the  Bassa  was  carried  in  chains  to  Con- 
stantinople, and  his  name  was  mentioned 
no  more. 


RASSBLAS.  81 

''  What  are  we  now  to  think  of  the  pre- 
rogatives of  power,"  said  Rasselas  to  his 
sister ;  "  is  it  without  any  efficacy  to  good  1 
or,  is  the  subordinate  degree  only  danger- 
ous, and  the  supreme  safe  and  glorious  ? 
Is  the  Sultan  the  only  happy  man  in  his 
dominions  ?  or,  is  the  Sultan  himself  sub- 
ject to  the  torments  of  suspicion  and  the 
dread  of  enemies  ?  " 

In  a  short  time  the  second  Bassa  was 
deposed.  The  Sultan  that  had  advanced 
him  was  murdered  by  the  Janizaries,  and 
his  successor  had  other  views  and  different 
favorites. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE   PRINCESS   PURSUES   HER   INaUIRY   WITH 
MORE   DILIGENCE   THAN   SUCCESS. 

The  princess,  in  the  mean  time,  insinua- 
ted herself  into  many  families  5  for  there 
are  few  doors  through  which  liberality, 
joined  with  good-humor,  cannot  find  its 
way.  The  daughters  of  many  houses  were 
airy  and  cheerful,  but  Tsekayah  had  been 
too  long  accustomed  to  the  conversation  of 
Imlac  and  her  brother,  to  be  much  pleased 
with  childish  levity,  and  prattle  which  had 
no  meaning.  She  found  their  thoughts 
narrow,  their  wishes  low,  and  their  merri- 


82  RASSKLAS. 

mcnt  often  artificial.  Their  pleasures, 
poor  as  they  were,  could  not  be  preserv- 
ed pure,  but  were  embittered  by  petty 
competitions  and  worthless  emulation. 
They  were  always  jealous  of  the  beauty  of 
each  other;  of  a  quality  to  which  solitude 
can  add  nothing,  and  from  which  detrac- 
tion can  take  nothing  away.  Many  were 
I  in  love  with  triflers  like  themselves,  and 
many  fancied  that  they  were  in  love  when 
in  truth  they  were  only  idle.  Their  affec- 
tion was  not  fixed  on  sense  or  virtue,  and 
therefore  seldom  ended  but  in  vexation. 
Their  grief,  however,  like  their  joy,  was 
transient ;  every  thing  floated  in  their  mind 
unconnected  with  the  past  or  future,  so 
that  one  desire  easily  gave  way  to  another, 
as  a  second  stone  cast  into  the  water  effaces 
and  confounds  the  circles  of  the  first. 

With  these  girls  she  played  as  with  in- 
offensive animals,  and  found  them  proud  of 
their  countenance,  and  weary  of  her  com- 
pany. 

But  her  purpose  was  to  examine  more 
deeply,  and  her  alTability  easily  persuaded 
the  hearts  that  were  swelling  with  sorrow 
to  discharge  their  secrets  in  her  ear;  and 
those  whom  hope  flattered,  or  prosperity 
delighted,  often  courted  her  to  partake 
their  pleasures.  ! 

The  princess  and  her  brother  commonly 
met  in  the  evening  in  a  private  summer-  j 
house  on  the  bank  of  the  Nile,  and  related  I 


RASSELAS.  83 

to  each  otlier  the  occurrences  of  the  day. 

As  they  were  sitting  together,  the  princess 

cast  her  eyes  upon  the  river  that  flowed 

before   her.     '-'Answer,"'  said  she,  '-great 

father  of  waters,  thou  that  rollest  thy  floods 

through  eighty  nations,  to  the  invocations 

j  of  the  daughter  of  thy  native  king.     Tell 

I  me  if  thou  waterest,  through  all  thy  course, 

\  a  single  habitation  from  which  thou    dost 

not  hear  the  murmurs  of  complaint  ?  " 

"  You  are,  then,"  said  Rasselas,  •'  not 
more  successful  in  private  houses  than  I 
have  been  in  courts."  "  I  have,  since  the 
last  partition  of  our  provinces,"  said  the 
princess,  '•'  enabled  myself  to  enter  famil- 
iarly into  many  families,  where  there  was 
the  fairest  show  of  prosperity  and  peace, 
and^now  not  one  house  that  is  not  haunted 
by  some  fury  that  destroys  their  quiet. 

"  I  did  not  seek  ease  among  the  poor, 
because  I  concluded  that  there  it  could  not 
be  found.  But  I  saw  many  poor,  whom  I 
had  supposed  to  live  in  afiiuence.  Poverty 
has,  in  large  cities,  very  different  appear- 
ances :  it  IS  often  concealed  in  splendor, 
and  often  in  extravagance.  It  is  the  care 
of  a  very  great  part  of  mankind  to  conceal 
their  indigence  from  the  rest  5  they  support 
themselves  by  temporary  expedients,  and 
every  day  is  lost  in  contriving  for  the 
I  morrow. 

I      "  This,   however,  was   an   evil,   which, 
though  frequent,  I  saw  with  less  pain,  be- 


84  RASSELAS. 

cause  I  could  relieve  it.  Yet  some  have 
refused  my  bounties  ;  more  offended  with 
my  quickness  to  detect  their  wants  than 
I  pleased  with  my  readiness  to  succour 
them  :  and  others,  whose  exigencies  com- 
pelled them  to  admit  my  kindness,  have 
never  been  able  to  forgive  their  benefac- 
tress. Many,  however,  have  been  sincere- 
ly grateful,  without  the  ostentation  of  grat- 
itude, or  the  hope  of  other  favors." 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE   pniNCESS    CONTINUES   HER  REMARKS   TTPON 
PRIVATE  LIFE. 

Nekayah,  perceiving  her  brother's  at- 
tention fixed,  proceeded  in  her  narrative. 

"  In  families,  where  there  is  or  is  not 
poverty,  there  is  commonly  discord ;  if  a 
Kingdom  be,  as  Imlac  tells  us,  a  great  fam- 
ily, a  family  likewise  is  a  little  kingdom, 
torn  with  factions  and  exposed  to  revolu- 
tions. An  unpractised  observer  expects  the 
love  of  parents  and  children  to  be  constant 
and  equal ;  but  this  kindness  seldom  con- 
tinues beyond  the  years  of  infancy :  in  a 
short  time  the  children  become  rivals  to 
their  parents.  Benefits  are  allayed  by  re- 
proaches, and  gratitude  debased  by  envy. 

"  Parents  and  children  seldom  act  in  con 


RASSBLAS.  oj 

cert ;  each  child  endeavours  to  appropriate 
the  esteem  or  fondness  of  the  parents,  and 
the  parents,  with  yet  less  temptation,  be- 
tray each  other  to  their  children ;  thus 
some  place  their  confidence  in  the  father, 
and  some  in  the  mother,  and,  by  degrees, 
the  house  is  filled  with  artifices  and  feuds. 

'•  The  opinions  of  children  and  parents, 
of  the  young  and  the  old,  are  naturally  op- 
posite, by  the  contrary  effects  of  hope  and 
despondence,  of  expectation  and  experi- 
ence, without  crime  or  folly  on  either  side. 
The  colors  of  life  in  youth  and  age  appear 
different,  as  the  face  of  nature  in  spring 
and  winter.  And  how  can  children  credit 
the  assertions  of  parents,  which  their  own 
eyes  show  them  to  be  false  ? 

"Few  parents  act  in  such  a  manner  as 
much  to  enforce  their  maxims  by  the  credit 
of  their  lives.  The  old  man  trusts  wholly 
to  slow  contrivance  and  gradual  progres- 
sions :  the  youth  expects  to  force  his  way 
by  genius,  vigor,  and  precipitance.  The 
old  man  pays  regard  to  riches,  and  the 
youth  reverences  virtue.  The  old  man 
deifies  prudence  :  the  youth  commits  him- 
self to  magnanimity  and  chance.  The 
young  man,  who  intends  no  ill,  believes 
that  none  is  intended,  and  therefore  acts 
with  openness  and  candor  5  but  his  father, 
having  suffered  the  injuries  of  fraud,  is  im- 
pelled to  suspect,  and  too  often  allured  to 
practise  it.     Age  looks  with  anger  on  the 


86  RASSELAS. 

temerity  of  youth,  and  youth  with  con- 
tempt on  the  scrupulosity  of  age.  Thus 
parents  and  children,  for  the  greatest  part, 
live  on  to  love  less  and  less  :  and,  if  those 
whom  nature  has  thus  closely  united  are 
the  torments  of  each  other,  where  shall  we 
look  for  tenderness  and  consolation  1" 

"  Surely,"  said  the  prince,  "  you  must 
have  been  unfortunate  in  your  choice  of 
acquaintance  :  I  am  unwilling  to  believe 
that  the  most  tender  of  all  relations  is  thus 
impeded  in  its  effects  by  natural  necessity." 

"  Domestic  discord."  answered  she,  "  is 
not  inevitably  and  fatally  necessary  ;  but 
yet  it  is  not  easily  avoided.  We  seldom 
see  that  a  whole  family  is  virtuous :  the 
good  and  evil  cannot  well  agree  ;  and  the 
evil  can  yet  less  agree  with  one  another : 
even  the  virtuous  fall  sometimes  to  vari- 
ance, when  their  virtues  are  of  different 
kinds  and  tending  to  extremes.  In  general, 
those  parents  have  most  reverence  that 
most  deserve  it :  for  he  that  lives  well  can- 
not be  despised. 

"Many  other  evils  infest  private  life. 
Some  are  the  slaves  of  servants  whom  they 
have  trusted  with  their  affairs.  Some  are 
ke[)t  in  continual  anxiety  by  the  caprice  of 
rich  relations,  whom  they  cannot  please 
and  dare  not  offend.  Some  husbands  arc 
imperious,  and  some  wives  perverse  :  and, 
as  it  is  always  more  easy  to  do  evil  than 
ffood,  thoush  the  wisdom  or  virtue  of  one 


RASSELAS.  87 

can  very  rarely  make  many  happy,  the 
folly  or  vice  of  one  may  often  make  many 
miserable." 

"  If  such  be  the  general  effect  of  mar- 
riage," said  the  prince,  "I  shall,  for  the 
future,  think  it  dangerous  to  connect  mv 
interest  with  that  of  another,  lest  I  should 
be  unhappy  by  my  partner's  fault." 

''  I  have  met,"  said  the  princess,  '•'  with 
many  who  live  single  for  that  reason  ;  but 
I  never  found  that  their  prudence  ought  to 
ra.se  envy.  They  dream  away  their  time 
without  friendship,  without  fondness,  and 
are  driven  to  rid  themselves  of  the  day,  for 
which  they  have  no  use,  by  childish  amuse 
ments  or  vicious  delights.  They  act  as 
beings  under  the  constant  sense  of  some 
known  inferiority,  that  fills  their  minds 
with  rancor,  and  their  tongues  with  cen- 
sure. They  are  peevish  at  home,  and  ma- 
levolent abroad;  and.  as  the  outlaws  of 
human  nature,  make  it  their  business  and 
their  pleasure  to  disturb  that  society  which 
j  debars  them  from  its  privileges.  "To  live 
without  feeling  or  exciting  sympathy,  to  be 
fortunate  without  adding  to  the  felicity  of 
others,  or  afflicted  without  tasting  the  balm 
of  pity,  is  a  state  more  gloomy  than  soli- 
tude ;  it  is  not  retreat,  but  exclusion  from 
mankind.  Marriage  has  many  pains,  but 
'Celibacy  has  no  pleasures." 

"  What  then  is  to  be  done  ?  "  said  Ras- 
selas  ;  "  the  more  we  inquire,  the  less  we 


83  RASSELAS. 

can  resolve.  Surely  he  is  most  likely  to 
please  himself  that  has  no  other  inclination 
to  regard." 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

DISQ.UISITION  UPON  GREATNESS. 

The  conversation  had  a  short  pause. 
The  prince,  having  considered  his  sister's 
observations,  told  lier,  that  she  had  survey- 
ed life  with  prejudice,  and  supposed  misery 
where  she  did  not  find  it.  "  Your  narra- 
tive," said  he,  "  throws  yet  a  darker  gloom 
upon  the  prospects  of  futurity  :  the  predic- 
tions of  Imlac  were  but  faint  sketclies  of 
the  evils  painted  byNckayah.  I  liave  been 
lately  convinced,  that  quiet  is  not  the  daugh- 
ter of  grandeur  or  of  power:  that  her  pres- 
ence is  not  to  be  bought  by  wealth,  nor 
enforced  by  conquest.  It  is  evident,  that 
as  any  man  acta  in  a  Avider  compass,  he 
must  be  more  exposed  to  opposition  from 
enmity,  or  miscarriage  from  chance  5  who- 
ever has  many  to  please  or  to  govern,  roust 
use  the  ministry  of  many  agents,  some  of 
whom  will  be  wicked,  and  some  ignorant  ; 
by  some  he  will  be  misled,  and  by  others 
betrayed.  If  lie  gratifies  one,  he  will  offend 
another :  tlinse  that  are  not  favored  will 
think  themselves  injured  ;  and,  since  favors 


RASSEIAS.  39 

can  be  conferred  but  upon  few,  the  greater 
number  will  be  always  discontented." 

'•  The  dircontent,"  said  the  princess, 
'■  v/hich  is  thus  unreasonable,  I  hope  that 
I  shall  always  have  spirit  to  despise,  and 
you,  power  to  repress." 

"  Discontent,"  answered  Rasselas,  "  will 
not  always  be  without  reason,  under  the 
most  just  and  vigilant  administration  of 
public  affairs.  None,  however  attentive, 
can  always  discover  that  merit,  which  indi- 
gence or  faction  may  happen  to  obscure  : 
and  none,  however  powerful,  can  always 
reward  it.  Yet,  he  that  sees  inferior  desert 
advanced  above  him  will  naturally  impute 
that  preference  to  partiality  or  caprice : 
and,  indeed,  it  can  scarcely  be  hoped  that 
any  man,  however  magnanimous  by  nature, 
or  exalted  by  condition,  v*ill  be  able  to 
persist  for  ever  in  the  fixed  and  inexorable 
justice  of  distribution  :  he  will  sometimes 
indulge  his  own  affections,  and  sometimes 
those  of  his  favorites  ;  he  will  permit  some 
to  please  him  who  can  never  serve  him  ;  he 
will  discover  in  those  whom  he  loves,  qual- 
ities which  in  reality  they  do  not  possess  ; 
and  to  those,  from  whom  he  receives  pleas- 
ure, he  will  in  his  turn  endeavour  to  give 
it.  Thus  will  recommendations  sometimes 
prevail  which  were  purchased  by  money,  or 
by  the  more  destructive  bribery  of  flattery 
and  servility. 

''  He  that  has  much  to  do  will  do  some- 


90  RASSELAS. 

thing  wrong,  and  of  that  wrong  must  suffer 
ihe  consequences  5  and  if  it  were  possible 
th&t  he  should  always  act  rightly,  yet  when 
such  numbers  are  to  judge  of  his  conduct, 
the  bad  will  censure  and  obstruct  him  by 
malevolence,  and  the  good  sometimes  by 
mistake. 

"The  highest  stations  cannot  therefore 
hope  to  be  the  abodes  of  happiness,  which 
I  would  willingly  believe  to  have  fled  from 
thrones  and  palaces  to  seats  of  humble 
privacy  and  placid  obscurity.  For  what  can 
hinder  the  satisfaction,  or  intercept  the 
expectations,  of  him  whose  abilities  are  ad- 
equate to  his  employments,  who  sees  with 
liis  own  eyes  the  whole  circuit  of  his  influ- 
ence, who  chooses  by  his  own  knowledge 
all  whom  he  trusts,  and  whom  none  are 
tempted  to  deceive  by  hope  or  fear  ? 
Surely  he  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  love 
and  to  be  loved  to  be  virtuous  and  to  be 
happy." 

"  VVhether  perfect  happiness  would  be 
procured  by  perfect  goodress,"  said  Ne- 
kayah,  "this  world  will  never  afford  an 
opportunity  of  deciding.  But  this,  at  least, 
may  be  maintained,  that  wc  do  not  always 
find  visible  happiness  in  proportion  lo  visi- 
ble virtue.  All  natural,  and  almost  all  po- 
litical, evils  are  incident  alike  to  the  bad 
and  good  :  they  are  confounded  in  the  mis- 
ery of  a  famine,  and  not  much  distinguished 
in  the  fury  of  a  faction  ;  tliey  sink  together  i 


RASSELAS.  91 

in  a  tempest,  and  are  driven  togetlier  from 
their  country  by  invaders.  All  their  virtue 
can  afford  is  quietness  of  conscience,  a 
steady  prospect  of  a  happier  state  ;  this 
may  enable  us  to  endure  calamity  with  pa- 
tience ;  but  remember  that  patience  must 
suppose  pain.'-' 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

RASSELAS   AND    NEKAVAH   CONTINUE    THEIR 
CONVERSATION. 

''Dear  princess,"  said  Rasselas,  '-'you 
fall  into  the  common  errors  of  exaggeratory 
declamation,  by  producing,  in  a  familiar 
disquisition,  examples  of  national  calami- 
ties, and  scenes  of  extensive  misery,  which 
are  found  in  books  rather  than  in  the  world, 
and  which,  as  they  are  horrid,  are  ordained 
to  be  rare.  Let  us  not  imagine  evils  which 
we  do  not  feel,  nor  injure  life  by  misrepre- 
sentations. I  cannot  bear  that  querulous 
eloquence,  which  threatens  every  city  with 
a  siege  like  that  of  Jerusalem,  that  makes 
famine  attend  on  every  flight  of  locusts, 
and  suspends  pestilence  on  the  wing  of 
every  blast  that  issues  from  the  south. 

"On  necessary  and  inevitable  eviis, 
which  overwhelm  kingdoms  at  once,  all 
disputation  is  vain  ;  when  they  happen  they 


92  RASSELAS. 

must  be  endured.  But  it  is  evident,  that 
these  bursts  of  universal  distress  are  more 
dreaded  than  felt  j  thousands  and  ten  thou- 
sands flourish  in  youth,  and  wither  in  age, 
without  the  knowledge  of  any  other  than 
domestic  evils,  and  share  the  same  pleas- 
ures and  vexations,  whether  their  kings  are 
mild  or  cruel,  whether  the  armies  of  their 
country  pursue  their  enemies  or  retreat 
before  them.  While  courts  are  disturbed 
with  intestine  competitions,  and  ambassa- 
dors are  negotiating  in  foreign  countries, 
the  smith  still  plies  his  anvil,  and  the  hus- 
bandman drives  his  plough  forward ;  the 
necessaries  of  life  are  required  and  obtain- 
ed ;  and  the  successive  business  of  the 
seasons  continues  to  make  its  wonted  rev- 
olutions. 

"  Let  us  cease  to  consider  what,  per- 
haps, may  never  happen,  and  what,  when  it 
shall  happen,  will  laugh  at  human  specula- 
tion. We  will  not  endeavour  to  modify 
the  motions  of  the  elements,  or  to  fix  the 
destiny  of  kingdoms.  It  is  our  business  to 
consider  what  beings  like  us  may  perform  ; 
each  laboring  for  his  own  happiness,  by 
promoting  within  his  circle,  however  nar- 
row, the  happiness  of  others. 

"  Marriage  is  evidently  the  dictate  of 
nature  ;  men  and  women  are  made  to  be 
companions  of  each  other,  and  therefore  I 
cannot  be  persuaded  but  that  marriage  is 
one  of  the  means  of  hapjiincss." 


RA3SELAS.  93 

''  I  know  not,'"'  said  the  princess,  "  wheth- 
er marriage  be  more  than  one  of  the  innu- 
merable modes  of  human  misery.  When 
I  see  and  reckon  the  various  forms  of  con- 
nubial infelicity,  the  unexpected  causes  of 
lasting  discord,  the  diversities  of  temper, 
the  oppositions  of  opinion,  the  rude  collis- 
ions of  contrary  desire  where  both  are  urg- 
ed by  violent  impulses,  the  obstinate  con- 
tests" of  disagreeable  virtues  where  both 
are  supported  by  consciousness  of  good 
intention,  I  am  sometimes  disposed  to 
think,  with  the  severer  casuists  of  most  na- 
tions, that  marriage  is  rather  permitted 
than  approved,  and  that  none,  but  by  the 
instigation  of  a  passion  too  much  indulg- 
ed, entangle  themselves  with  indissoluble 
compacts/' 

"  You  seem  to  forget,''  replied  Rasselas, 
"  that  you  have,  even  now,  represented  ce- 
libacy as  less  happy  than  marriage.  Both 
conditions  may  be  bad,  but  they  cannot 
both  be  worst.  Thus  it  happens  when 
wrong  opinions  are  entertained,  that  they  ! 
mutually  destroy  each  other,  and  leave  the 
mind  open  to  truth." 

•'  I  did  not  expect,"  answered  the  prin- 
cess, "  to  hear  that  imputed  to  falsehood 
which  is  the  consequence  only  of  frailty. 
To  the  mind,  as  to  the  eye,  it  is  difficult  to 
compare  with  exactness  objects  vast  in  their 
extent,  and  various  in  their  parts.  Where 
we  see  or  conceive  the  whole  at  once,  we 


9-i  RASSELAS. 

/•eadily  note  the  discriminations,  and  decide 
tl)e  preference  :  but  of  two  systems,  of 
which  neither  can  be  surveyed  by  any  hu- 
man being  in  its  full  compass  of  magnitude 
and  multiplicity  of  complication,  where  is 
the  wonder  that,  judging  of  the  whole  by 
parts,  I  am  alternately  affected  by  one  and 
the  other  as  either  presses  on  my  memory 
or  fancy  ?  We  differ  from  ourselves  just 
as  we  differ  from  each  other,  when  we  see 
only  part  of  the  question,  as  in  the  multi- 
farious relations  of  politics  and  morality  : 
but  when  we  perceive  the  whole  at  once, 
as  in  numerical  computations,  all  agree  in 
one  judgment,  and  none  ever  varies  his 
opinion." 

'•  Let  us  not  add,"  said  the  prince,  "  to 
the  other  evils  of  life  the  bitterness  ol^  con- 
troversy, nor  endeavour  to  vie  with  each 
other  in  subtilties  of  argument.  We  are 
employed  in  a  search  of  which  both  are 
equally  to  enjoy  the  success,  or  suffer  by 
the  miscarriage.  It  is  therefore  fit  that  we 
assist  each  other.  You  surely  conclude 
too  hastily  from  the  infelicity  of  marriage 
against  its  institution  ;  will  not  the  misery 
of  life  prove  equally  that  life  cannot  be 
the  gift  of  heaven?  The  world  mrst  be 
peopled  by  marriage,  or  peopled  without 
it." 

"  How  the  world  is  to  be  peopled,"  re- 
turned Nekayah,  ''  is  imt  my  care,  and 
needs  not  be  yours.     ^  sec  no  dange.*-  that 


RASSELAS.  95 

i  the  present  generation  should  omit  to  leave 
successors  behind  them  :  we  are  not  now 
inquiring  for  the  world  but  for  ourselves." 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE   DEBATE   OF   MARRIAGE   COXTINUED. 

"  The  good  of  the  whole,"  said  Rasse- 
las,  "  is  the  same  with  the  good  of  all  its 
parts.  If  marriage  be  best  for  mankind,  it 
must  be  evidently  best  for  individuals,  or  a 
permanent  and  necessary  duty  must  be  the 
cause  of  evil,  and  some  must  be  inevitably 
sacrificed  to  the  convenience  of  others. 
In  the  estimate  which  you  have  made  of 
the  two  states,  it  appears  that  the  incom- 
modities  of  a  single  life  are,  in  a  great 
measure,  necessary  and  certain,  but  those 
of  the  conjugal  state  accidental  and  avoid- 
able. 

"  I  cannot  forbear  to  flatter  myself,  that 
prudence  and  benevolence  will  make  mar- 
riage happy.     The  general  folly  of  man- 
kind is   the  cause   of  general   complaint. 
What  can  be  expected  but  disappointment 
and  repentance  from  a  choice  made  in  the 
immaturity  of  youth,  in  the  ardor  of  desire, 
I  without  judgment,  without  foresight,  with- 
)  out  inquiry  after  conformity  of  opinions, 
I 


96  U  A  S  S  E  L  A  S.  ' 

similarity  of  manners,  rectitude  of  judg- 
ment, or  purity  of  sentiment  ? 

''  Such  is  the  common  process  of  mar- 
riage. A  youth  and  maiden  meeting  by 
chance,  or  brought  together  by  artifice,  ex- 
change glances,  reciprocate  civilities,  go 
home,  and  dream  of  one  another.  Hav- 
ing little  to  divert  attention,  or  diversify 
thought,  they  find  themselves  uneasy  ■when 
they  are  apart,  and  therefore  conclude  that 
they  shall  be  happy  together.  They  marry, 
and  discover  what  nothing  but  voluntary 
blindness  before  had  concealed  :  they  wear 
out  life  in  altercations,  and  charge  nature 
with  cruelty. 

''  From  those  early  marriages  proceeds 
likewise  the  rivalry  of  parents  and  chil- 
dren :  the  son  is  eager  to  enjoy  the  world 
before  the  father  is  willing  to  forsake  it, 
and  there  is  hardly  room  at  once  for  two 
generations.  The  daughter  begins  to  bloom 
before  the  mother  can  be  content  to  fade, 
and  neither  can  forbear  to  wish  for  the  ab- 
sence of  the  other. 

"Surely  all  these  evils  may  be  avoided 
bv  that  deliberation  and  delay  which  pru- 
dence prescribes  to  irrevocable  choice. 
In  the  variety  and  jollity  of  youthful  pleas- 
ures life  may  be  well  enough  supported 
without  the  help  of  a  partner.  Longer 
time  will  increase  experience,  and  wider 
views  will  allow  better  opportunities  of 
mquiry  and   selection  :  one   advantage,  at 


KASSBLAS.  97 

least,  will  be  certain ;  the  parents  will  be 
visibly  older  than  their  children." 

•'  What  reason  cannot  collect/'  said  Ne- 
kayah,  *'  and  what  experiment  has  not  yet 
taught,  can  be  known  only  from  the  report 
of  others.  I  have  been  told,  that  late  mar- 
riages are  not  eminently  happy.  This  is  a 
question  too  important  to  be  neglected,  and 
1  have  often  proposed  it  to  those  whose 
accuracy  of  remark  and  comprehensiveness 
of  knowledge  made  their  suffrages  worthy 
of  regard.  They  have  generally  determined 
that  it  is  dangerous  for  a  man  and  woman 
to  suspend  their  fate  upon  each  other  at  a 
time  when  opinions  are  fixed  and  habits  are 
established  J  when  friendships  have  been 
contracted  on  both  sides,  when  life  has 
been  planned  into  method,  and  the  mind  has 
long  enjoyed  the  contemplation  of  its  own 
prospects. 

"  It  is  scarcely  possible  that  two,  travel- 
ling through  the  world,  under  the  conduct 
of  chance,  should  have  been  both  directed 
to  the  same  path,  and  it  will  not  often  hap- 
pen that  either  will  quit  the  track  which 
custom  has  made  pleasing.  When  the  de- 
sultory levity  of  youth  has  settled  into  regu- 
larity, it  is  soon  succeeded  by  pride  asham- 
ed to  yield,  or  obstinacy  delighting  to  con- 
tend. And  even  though  mutual  esteem 
produces  mutual  desire  to  please,  time 
itself,  as  it  modifies  unchangeably  the  ex- 
ternal mien,  determines  likewise  the  direc- 


blj  RASSELAS. 

tion.  of  the  passions,  and  gives  an  inflexible 
rigidity  to  the  manners.  Long  customs  are 
not  easily  broken:  he  that  attempts  to 
change  the  course  of  his  own  life  very 
often  labors  in  vain;  and  how  shall  we  | 
do  that  for  others,  which  we  are  seldom 
able  to  do  for  ourselves  ?  '' 

"  But  surely,"  interposed  the  prince, 
"  you  suppose  the  chief  motive  of  choice 
forgotten  or  neglected.  Whenever  I  shall 
seek  a  wife,  it  shall  be  my  first  question, 
whether  she  be  willing  to  be  led  by  rea- 
son 1" 

"  Thus  it  is,"  said  Nekayah,  '•'  that  phi- 
losophers are  deceived.  There  are  a  thou- 
sand familiar  disputes,  which  reason  never 
can  decide  :  questions  that  elude  investiga- 
tion, and  make  logic  ridiculous ;  cases 
where  something  must  be  done,  and  where 
little  can  be  said.  Consider  the  state  of 
mankind,  and  inquire  how  few  can  be  sup- 
posed to  act  upon  any  occasions,  whether 
small  or  great,  with  all  the  reasons  of  action 
present  to  their  minds.  Wretched  would 
be  the  pair  above  all  names  of  wretched- 
ness, who  should  be  doomed  to  adjust  by 
reason,  every  morning,  all  the  minute  detail 
of  a  domestic  day. 

'' 'I'hose  who  marry  at  an  advanced  age, 
will  probably  escape  the  encroachments  of 
their  children;  but  in  diminution  of  this 
advantage,  they  will  be  likely  to  leave  them, 
ignorant  and  helpless,  to  a  guardian's  mer- 


RASSELA3.  99 

cy  :  or,  if  that  should  not  happen,  they 
must  at  least  go  out  of  the  world  before 
they  see  thoss  whom  they  love  best  either 
wise  or  great. 

''From  their  children,  if  they  have  less 
to  fear,  they  have  less  also  to  hope;  and 
they  lose,  without  equivalent,  the  joys  of 
early  love,  and  the  convenience  of  uniting 
with  manners  pliant,  and  minds  susceptible 
of  new  impressions,  which  might  wear 
away  their  dissimilitudes  by  long  cohabita- 
tion, as  soft  bodies,  by  continual  attrition, 
conform  their  surfaces  to  each  other. 

"  I  believe  it  will  be  found  that  those 
who  marry  late  are  best  pleased  with  their 
children,  and  those  who  marry  early  with 
their  partners." 

"  The  union  of  these  two  affections," 
said  Rasselas,  ''would  produce  all  that 
could  be  wished.  Perhaps  there  is  a  time 
when  marriage  might  unite  them  ;  a  time 
neither  too  early  for  the  father  nor  too  late 
for  the  husband." 

"  Every  hour,"   answered  the  princess, 
"confirms   my  prejudice   in   favor  of  the 
position  so  often  uttered  by  the  mouth  of 
!  Imlac,  '  That  nature  sets  her  gifts  on  the 
j  tight  hand  and  on  the  left.'     Those  condi- 
tions which  flatter  hope  and  attract  desire 
I  are  so  constituted,  that  as  we  approach  one 
-  we  recede  from  another.     There  are  goods 
j  so  opposed  that  we  cannot  seize  both,  but, 
j  by  too  much  prudence,  may  pass  between 


100  RASSBLAS. 

them  at  too  great  a  distance  to  reach  either. 
This  is  often  the  fate  of  long  consider- 
ation ;  he  does  nothing  who  endeavours 
to  do  more  than  is  allowed  to  humanity. 
Flatter  not  yourself  with  contrarieties  of 
pleasure.  Of  the  blessings  set  before  you 
make  your  choice  and  be  content.  No 
man  can  taste  the  fruits  of  autumn  w^hile 
he  is  delighting  his  scent  with  the  flowers 
of  the  spring:  no  man  can.  at  the  same 
tirtie,  fill  his  cup  from  the  source  and  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Nile." 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

IMLAC    ENTERS,    AND    CHANGES    THE   CONVER- 
SATION. 

Here  Imlac  entered,  and  interrupted 
them.  "Imlac,"  said  Rasselas,  "I  have 
been  taking  from  the  princess  the  dismal 
history  of  private  life,  and  am  almost  dis- 
couraged from  further  search." 

"It  seems  to  me,"  said  Tmlac,  "that 
while  you  are  making  the  choice  of  life 
you  neglect  to  live.  You  wander  about  a 
siiigl-e  city,  which,  however  large  and  di- 
versified, can  now  afford  few  novelties,  and 
forget  that  you  are  in  a  country  famous 
among  the  earliest  monarchies  for  the  pow- 
er and  wisdom  of  its  inhabitants  ;  a  country 


RASSELAS.  101 

where  the  sciences  first  dawned  that  illu- 
minate the  world,  and  beyond  which  the 
arts  cannot  be  traced  of  civil  society  or 
.  domestic  life. 

I  "  The  old  Egyptians  have  left  behind 
(  them  monuments  of  industry  and  power, 
before  which  all  European  magnificence  is 
confessed  to  fade  away.  The  ruins  of  their 
architecture  are  the  schools  of  modern 
builders,  and  from  the  wonders  which  time 
has  spared,  we  may  conjecture,  though 
uncertainly,  what  it  has  destroyed." 

''My  curiosity,"  said  Rasselas,  "does 
not  very  strongly  lead  me  to  survey  piles 
of  stone  or  mounds  of  earth  ;  my  business 
is  with  man.  1  came  hither  not  to  meas- 
ure fragments  of  temples,  or  trace  choked 
aqueducts,  but  to  look  upon  the  various 
scenes  of  the  present  world." 

'■•'The  things  that  are  now  before  us," 
said  the  princess,  ''  require  attention  and 
deserve  it.  What  have  I  to  do  with  the 
heroes  or  the  monuments  of  ancient  times  ? 
with  times  which  never  can  return,  and 
heroes,  whose  form  of  life  was  different 
from  all  that  the  present  condition  of  man- 
kind requires  or  allows  ?  " 

'•  To  know  any  thing,"  returned  the 
poet.  "  wp  ..lUst  know  its  effects:  to  sae 
men  ve  must  see  their  works,  that  w  ;  may 
learn  »  hal  reason  has  dictated,  or  f  assion 
has  incited,  and  find  what  are  the  most 
powerful    motives   of   action.      To  judge 


102  RASSELAS. 

rightly  of  the  present,  we  must  oppose  it 
to  the  past;  for  all  judgment  is  compara- 
tive,  and   of   the   future   nothing   can   be 
known.      The    truth   is,  that  no   mind   is 
much  employed  upon  the  present :  recol- 
lection and  anticipation  fill  up  almost  all 
our  moments.     Our  passions  are  joy  and  { 
grief,  love  and  hatred,  hope  and  fear.     Of 
joy  and  grief  the  past  is  the  object,  and  the  j 
future  of  hope  and  fear;   even  love   and  1 
hatred  respect  the  past,  for  the  cause  must  I 
have  been  before  the  effect.  j 

'•  TJie  present  state  of  things  is  the  con-  j 
sequence  of  the  former,  and  it  is  natural  to  I 
inquire  what  were  the  sources  of  tiie  good 
that  we  enjoy,  or  the  evil  that  we  suffer. 
If  we  act  only  for  ourselves,  to  neglect  the 
study  of  history  is  not  prudent :  if  we  are 
intrusted  with  the  care  of  others,  it  is  not 
'ust.  Ignorance,  when  it  is  voluntary,  is 
criminal :  and  he  may  properly  be  charged 
with  evil  who  refused  to  learn  how  he 
might  prevent  it. 

"  There  is  no  part  of  history  so  generally 
useful  as  that  which  relates  the  progress  of 
the  human  mind,  the  gradual  improvement 
of  reason,  the  successive  advances  of  sci- 
ence, the  vicissitudes  of  learning  and  igno- 
rance, which  are  the  light  ?.nil  darkness  of 
thinking  beings,  the  extinction  ai.  ^  resusci- 
tation of  arts,  and  the  revolutions  of  the 
intellectual  world.  If  accounts  of  battles 
and  invasions  are  peculiarly  the  business 


RASSELAS.  103 

of  princes,  the  useful  or  elegant  arts  are 
not  to  be  neglected  ;  those  who  have  king- 
doms to  govern  have  understandings  to 
cultivate. 

''  Example  is  always  more  efficacious  than 
precept.  A  soldier  is  formed  in  war,  and  a 
painter  must  copy  pictures.  In  this,  con- 
templative life  has  the  advantage  :  great 
actions  are  seldom  seen,  but  the  labors  of 
art  are  always  at  hand,  for  those  who  desire 
to  know  what  art  has  been  able  to  perform. 
*•  When  the  eye  or  the  imagination  is 
struck  with  any  uncommon  work,  the  next 
transition  of  an  active  mind  is  to  the  means 
by  which  it  was  performed.  Here  begins 
the  true  use  of  such  contemplation  ;  we 
enlarge  our  comprehension  by  new  ideas, 
and  perhaps  recover  some  art  lost  to  man- 
kind, or  learn  what  is  less  perfectly  known 
in  our  own  country.  At  least  we  compare 
our  own  with  former  times,  and  either 
rejoice  at  our  improvements,  or,  what  is 
the  first  motion  towards  good,  discover  our 
defects." 

"  I  am  willing,"  said  the  prince,  "  to  see 
all  that  can  deserve  my  search."  ''  And 
I,"  said  the  princess,  "  shall  rejoice  to 
learn  something  of  the  manners  of  anti- 
quity." 

"  The  most  pompous  monument  of  Egyp- 
tian greatness,  and  one  of  the  most  bulky  I 
works    of  manual    industry,"    said   Imlac,  I 
"are  the  Pyramids;   fabrics  raised  before] 


lOi  RASSELAS. 

the  time  of  history,  and  of  which  the  ear- 
j  liest  narratives   afford    us   only   uncertain 
traditions.     Of  these  the  greatest  is  still 
standing,  very  little  injured  by  time." 

•'  Let  us  visit  them  to-morrow,"  said 
Nekayah.  "  I  have  often  heard  of  the 
Pyramids,  and  shall  not  rest  till  I  have 
seen  them  within  and  Avithout  with  my 
own  eyes." 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THEY   VISIT  THE    PYRAMIDS. 

Thf,  resolution  being  thus  taken,  they 
set  out  the  next  day.  They  laid  tents  upon 
their  camels,  being  resolved  to  stay  among 
the  Pyramids  till  their  curiosity  was  fully 
satisfied.  They  travelled  gently,  turned 
aside  to  every  thing  remarkable,  stopped 
from  time  to  time  and  conversed  with  the 
inhabitants,  and  observed  tlie  various  ap- 
pearance of  towns  ruined  and  inhabited,  of 
wild  and  cultivated  nature. 

When  they  came  to  the  great  Pyrnmid. 
they  were  astonished  at  the  extent  of  the 
base  and  the  heiglit  of  the  top.  Imlac 
explained  to  them  the  principles  upon 
which  the  pyramidal  form  was  chosen  for 
a  fabric  intended  to  co-extend  its  duration 
with  that  of  the  world  :  he  showed  that  its 


KASSELAS.  105 

gradual  diminution  gave  it  such  stability, 
as  defeated  all  the  common  attacks  of  the 
elements,  and  could  scarcely  be  overthrown 
by  earthquakes  themselves,  the  least  resist- 
able  of  natural  violence.  A  concussion 
that  should  shatter  the  Pyramid  would 
threaten  the  dissolution  of  the  continent. 

They  measured  all  its  dimensions,  and 
pitched  their  tents  at  its  foot.  Next  day 
thisy  prepared  to  enter  its  interior  apart- 
ments j  and,  having  hired  the  common 
guides,  climbed  up  to  the  first  passage, 
when  the  favorite  of  the  princess,  looking 
into  the  cavity,  stepped  back  and  trembled. 
"  Pekuah,"  said  the  princess,  "  of  what  art 
thou  afraid  ?  "  '•  Of  the  narrow  entrance," 
answered  the  lady,  "  and  of  the  dreadful 
gloom.  I  dare  not  enter  a  place  which 
must  surely  be  inhabited  by  unquiet  souls. 
The  original  possessors  of  those  dreadful 
vaults  will  start  up  before  us,  and  perhaps 
shut  us  in  for  ever.''  She  spoke,  and  threw 
her  arms  round  the  neck  of  her  mistress. 

•'  If  all  your  fear  be  of  apparitions,"  said 
the  prince,  '•'  I  will  promise  you  safety  : 
there  is  no  danger  from  the  dead  ;  he  that 
is  once  buried  will  be  seen  no  more." 

■•  That  the  dead  are  seen  no  more,"  said 
Imlac.  ''■  I  will  not  undertake  to  maintain 
against  the  concurrent  and  unvaried  testi- 
mony of  all  ages  and  of  all  nations.  There 
is  no  people,  rude  or  learned,  among  whom 
a,)Daritions  of  the  dead  are  not  related  and 


106  RASSELAS. 

believed.  This  opinion,  which  perhaps 
prevails  as  far  as  human  nature  is  diffused, 
could  become  universal  only  by  its  truth  : 
those  that  never  heard  of  one  another  would 
not  have  agreed  in  a  tale  which  nothing  but 
experience  can  make  credible.  That  it 
is  doubted  by  single  cavillers,  can  very 
little  weaken  the  general  evidence  3  and 
some  who  deny  it  with  their  tongues  con- 
fes.T  it  by  their  fears. 

''  Yet  I  do  not  mean  to  add  new  terrors 
to  those  which  have  already  seized  upon 
Pekuah.  There  can  be  no  reason  why 
spectres  should  haunt  the  Pyramid  more 
than  other  places,  or  why  they  should  have 
power  or  will  to  hurt  innocence  and  puritj'. 
Our  entrance  is  no  violation  of  their  privi- 
leges ;  we  can  take  nothing  from  tliem, 
how  then  can  we  offend  tliem  ?  " 

''My  dear  Pekuah,"  said  the  princess, 
"  I  will  always  go  before  you,  and  Imlac 
shall  follow  you.  Remember  that  you  are 
the  companion  of  the  princess  of  Abys- 
sinia." 

"  If  the  princess  is  pleased  that  her  ser- 
vant should  die,"  returned  the  lady,  "let 
her  command  some  death  less  dreadful  than 
enclosure  in  this  horrid  cavern.  You  know 
I  dare  not  disobey  you  :  I  must  go  if  you 
command  me  5  but,  if  I  once  enter,  I  never 
shall  come  back.'' 

Tlie  princess  saw  that  her  fear  was  too 
strong  lor  expostulation   or   reproof;  and 


RASSELAS  107 

embracing  her,  told  her  that  she  should  stay 
in  tlie  tent  till  their  return.  Pekuah  was 
yet  not  satisfied,  but  entreated  the  princess 
not  to  pursue  so  dreadful  a  purpose  as  that 
of  entering  the  recesses  of  the  Pyramid. 
'•  Though  I  cannot  teach  courage,"  said 
INekayah,  "  I  must  not  learn  cowardice  ; 
nor  leave  at  last  undone  what  I  came  hitiier 
only  to  do." 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

THEY   ENTER   THE   PYRAMID. 

Pekuah  descended  to  the  tents,  and  the 
rest  entered  the  Pyramid:  they  passed 
through  the  galleries,  surveyed  the  vaults 
of  marble,  and  examined  the  chest  in 
which  the  body  of  the  founder  is  supposed 
to  have  been  reposited.  They  then  sat 
down  in  one  of  the  most  spacious  cham- 
bers to  rest  awhile  before  they  attempted 
to  return. 

*■'  We  have  now,"  said  Imlac,  "  gratified 
our  minds  with  an  exact  view  of  the  Great- 
est work  of  man,  except  the  wall  of  China. 

"  Of  the  wall  it  is  very  easy  to  assign  the 
motive.  It  secured  a  wealthy  and  timorous 
nation  from  the  incursions  of  barbarians, 
whose  unskilfulness  in  arts  made  it  easier 
for  them  to  supply  their  wants   by  rapine 


108  RASSELAS. 

than  by  industry,  and  who  from  time  to 
time,  poured  in  upon  the  habitations  of 
peaceful  commerce,  as  vultures  descend 
upon  domestic  fowl.  Their  celerity  and 
fierceness  made  the  wall  necessary,  and 
their  ignorance  made  it  efficacious. 

''  But  for  the  Pyramids  no  reason  has 
ever  been  given  adequate  to  the  cost  and 
labor  of  the  work.  The  narrowness  of  the 
chambers  proves  that  it  could  afford  no  re- 
treat from  enemies,  and  treasures  might 
have  been  reposited  at  far  less  expense 
with  equal  security.  It  seems  to  have 
been  erected  only  in  compliance  with  that 
hunger  of  imagination  which  preys  inces- 
santly upon  life,  and  must  be  always  ap- 
peased by  some  employment.  Those  who 
have  already  all  that  they  can  enjoy  must 
enlarge  their  desires.  He  that  has  built 
for  use  till  use  is  supplied,  must  begin  to 
build  for  vanity,  and  extend  his  plan  to  the 
utmost  power  of  human  performance,  that 
he  may  not  be  soon  reduced  to  form  anoth- 
er wish. 

"  I  consider  this  mighty  structure  as  a 
monument  of  the  insufficiency  of  human 
enjoyments.  A  king,  whose  power  is  un- 
limited, and  whose  treasures  surmount  all 
real  and  imaginary  wants,  is  compelled  to 
solace,  by  the  erection  of  a  Pyramid,  the 
satiety  of  dominion  and  tastelessness  of 
pleasures,  and  to  amuse  the  tediousnesa  of 
declining  life,  by  seeing  thousands  laboring 


RASSBLAS.  109 

without  end,  and  one  stone,  for  no  purpose,  ^ 
laid  upon  another.  Whoever  thou  art,  that, 
not  content  with  a  moderate  condition,  im- 
aginest  happiness  in  royal  magnificence, 
and  dreamest  that  command  or  riches  can 
feed  the  appetite  of  novelty  with  perpetual 
gratifications,  survey  the  Pyramids,  and 
confess  thy  folly  1  " 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

THE   PRINCESS   MEETS   WITH    AN   UNEXPECTED 
MISFORTUNE. 

They  rose  up  and  returned  through  the 
cavity  at  v/hich  they  had  entered,  and  the 
princess  prepared  for  her  favorite  a  long 
narrative  of  dark  labyrinths  and  costly 
rooms,  and  of  the  different  impressions 
which  the  varieties  of  the  way  had  made 
upon  her.  But  when  they  came  to  their 
train  they  found  every  one  silent  and  de- 
jected 5  the  men  discovered  shame  and  fear 
in  their  countenances,  and  the  women  were 
weeping  in  the  tents. 

What  had  happened  they  did  not  try 
to  conjecture,  but  immediately  inquired. 
'•  You  had  scarcely  entered  into  the  Pyra- 
mid," said  one  of  the  attendants,  "  when 
a  troop  of  Arabs  rushed  upon  us  :  we  were 
too   few  to  resist  them,  and  too  slow  to 


110  RASSELAS. 

escape.  They  were  about  to  search  the 
tents,  set  us  on  our  camels,  and  drive  us 
along  before  them,  when  the  approach  of 
some  Turkish  horsemen  put  them  to  flight} 
but  they  seized  the  Lady  Pekuah  with  her 
two  maids,  and  carried  them  away  3  the 
Turks  are  now  pursuing  them  by  our  insti- 
gation, but  I  fear  they  will  not  be  able  to 
overtake  them." 

The  princess  was  overpowered  with  sur- 
prise and  grief.  Rasselas,  in  the  first  heat 
of  his  resentment,  ordered  his  servants  to 
follow  him,  and  prepared  to  pursue  the 
'  robbers  with  his  sabre  in  his  hand.  "  Sir," 
said  Imlac,  "  what  can  you  hope  from  vio- 
lence or  valor  ?  the  Arabs  are  mounted  on 
horses  trained  to  battle  and  retreat;  we 
have  only  beasts  of  burden.  By  leaving 
our  present  station  we  may  lose  the  prin- 
cess, but  cannot  hope  to  regain  Pekuah." 

In  a  short  time  the  Turks  returned,  hav- 
ing not  been  able  to  reach  tlie  enemy. 
Tbe  princess  burst  out  into  new  lamenta- 
tions, and  Rasselas  could  scarcely  forbear 
to  reproach  them  with  cowardice  ;  but  Im- 
lac was  of  opinion,  that  the  escape  of  the 
Arabs  was  no  addition  to  their  misfortune, 
for  perhaps  they  would  have  killed  their 
I  captives  rather  than  have  resigned  them. 


RASSELAS.  Ill 


CHAPTER  XXX rv. 

THEY   RETURN   TO    CAIRO   WITHOUT   PEKUAH. 

There  was  nothing  to  be  hoped  from 

longer  stay.  They  returned  to  Cairo,  re- 
penting of  their  curiosity,  censuring  the 
negligence  of  the  government,  lamenting 
their  own  rashness,  which  had  neglected  to 
procure  a  guard,  imagining  many  expedi- 
ents by  which  the  loss  of  Pekuah  might 
have  been  prevented,  and  resolving  to  do 
something  for  her  recovery,  though  none 
could  find  any  thing  proper  to  be  done. 

Nekayah  retired  to  her  chamber,  where 
her  women  attempted  to  comfort  her,  by 
telling  her  that  all  had  their  troubles,  and 
that  Lady  Pekuah  had  enjoyed  much  hap- 
piness in  the  world  for  a  long  time,  and 
might  reasonably  expect  a  char>ge  of  for- 
tune. They  hoped  that  some  good  would 
befall  her  wheresoever  she  was,  and  that 
their  mistress  would  find  another  friend 
who  might  supply  her  place. 

The  princess  made  them  no  answer,  and 
they  continued  the  form  of  condolence,  not 
much  grieved  in  their  hearts  that  the  favor- 
ite was  lost. 

Next  day  the  prince  presented  to  the 
Bassa  a  memorial  of  the  wrong  which  he 
had   suffered,  and  a  petition   for  redress. 


112  RASSELAS. 

The  Bassa  threatened  to  punish  the  rob- 
bers, but  did  not  attempt  to  catch  them,  nor 
indeed  could  any  account  or  description 
be  given  by  which  he  might  direct  the 
pursuit. 

It  soon  appeared  that  nothing  would  be 
done  by  authority.  Governors  being  ac- 
customed to  hear  of  more  crimes  than 
they  can  punish,  and  more  wrongs  than 
they  can  redress,  set  themselves  at  ease  by 
indiscriminate  negligence,  and  presently 
forget  the  request  when  they  lose  sight  of 
the  petitioner. 

Imlac  then  endeavoured  to  gain  some 
intelligence  by  private  agents.  He  found 
many  who  pretended  to  an  exact  knowl- 
edge of  all  the  haunts  of  the  Arabs,  and  to 
regular  correspondence  w^ith  their  chiefs. 
and  wlio  readily  undertook  the  recovery  of 
Pekuah.  Of  these,  some  were  furnished 
with  money  for  their  journey,  and  came 
back  no  more  ;  some  were  liberally  paid 
for  accounts  which  a  few  days  discovered 
to  be  false.  But  the  princess  would  not 
suffer  any  means,  however  improbable,  to 
be  left  untried.  Wliile  she  was  doing 
something,  she  kept  her  hope  alive.  As 
one  expedient  f\iiled,  another  was  suggest- 
ed;  when  one  messenger  returned  unsuc- 
cessful, another  was  despatched  to  a  differ- 
ent quarter. 

Two  months  had  now  passed,  and  of 
Pekuah  nothing  had  been  heard;  tlie  hopes 


RASSELAS.  113 

which  they  had  endeavoured  to  raise  in 
each  other  grew  more  languid,  and  the 
princess,  when  she  saw  nothing  more  to  be 
tried,  sunk  down  inconsolable  in  hopeless 
dejection.  A  thousand  times  she  reproach- 
ed herself  with  the  easy  compliance  by 
which  she  permitted  her  favorite  to  stay 
behind  her.  '•  Had  not  my  fondness,"  said 
she,  "  lessened  my  authority,  Pekuah  had 
not  dared  to  talk  of  her  terrors.  She  ought 
to  have  feared  me  more  than  spectres.  A 
severe  look  would  have  overpowered  her  5 
a  peremptory  command  would  have  com- 
pelled obedience.  Why  did  foolish  indul- 
gence prevail  upon  me  ?  Why  did  I  not 
speak,  and  refuse  to  hear  ?  " 

••'Great  princess,"  said  Imlac,  ''do  not 
reproach  yourself  for  your  virtue,  or  con- 
*?'(3er  (hat  as  bhimabie  by  whic'i  -?vil  has 
j  accidentally  been  caused.  Vour  lender- 
I  ness  for  the  timidity  of  Pekuah  was  gen- 
erous and  kind.  When  we  act  according 
to  our  duty,  we  commit  the  event  to  Him 
by  whose  ?aws  our  actions  are  governed, 
and  who  will  sj/iffer  none  to  be  finally  pun- 
ished for  obedience.  When,  in  prospect 
of  some  good,  whether  natural  or  moral, 
we  break  the  rules  prescribed  us,  we  with- 
draw from  the  direction  of  superior  wis- 
dom, and  take  all  consequences  upon  our- 
selves. Man  cannot  so  far  know  the  con- 
nexion of  causes  and  events,  as  that  he 
may  venture  to  do  wrong  in  order  to  do 


114  RASSELAS. 

right.  When  we  pursue  our  end  by  lawful 
means,  we  may  always  console  our  mis- 
carriage by  the  hope  of  future  recompense. 
When  we  consult  only  our  own  policy,  and 
attempt  to  find  a  nearer  way  to  good,  by 
overleaping  the  settled  boundaries  of  right 
and  wrong,  we  cannot  be  happy  even  by 
success,  because  we  cannot  escape  the 
consciousness  of  our  fault ;  but,  if  we  mis- 
carry, the  disappointment  is  irremediably 
imbittered.  How  comfortless  is  the  sor- 
row of  him  who  feels  at  once  the  pangs  of 
guilt,  and  tlie  vexation  of  calamity,  which 
guilt  has  brought  upon  him  ! 

"  Consider,  princess,  what  would  have 
been  your  condition,  if  the  Lady  Pekuah 
h-xd  entrentcd  to  accompany  you,  and  being 
compelled  to  stay  in  the  tents,  had  been 
carried  away  j  or  how  would  you  have 
borne  tlie  thought,  if  you  had  forced  her 
into  the  Pyramid,  and  she  had  died  before 
you  in  agonies  of  terror  ?  " 

"  Had  either  happened,"  said  Nekayah, 
"  I  could  not  have  endured  life  till  now  ;  1 
should  have  been  tortured  to  madness  by 
the  remembrance  of  such  cruelty,  or  must 
have  pined  away  in  abhorrence  of  myself." 

'■'  This  at  least,"  said  Imlac,  "  is  the 
present  reward  of  virtuous  conduct,  that 
no  unlucky  consequence  can  ob'ige  us  to 
repent  it." 


RASSELAS.  ll*? 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

THE   PRINCESS   LANGUISHES   FOR   WANT   OF 
PEKUAII. 

Nekayah,  being  thus  reconciled  to  her- 
self, found  that  no  evil  is  insupportable  but 
that  which  is  accompanied  with  conscious- 
ness of  wrong.  She  was  from  that  time 
delivered  from  the  violence  of  tempestu- 
ous sorrow,  and  sunk  into  silent  pensive- 
ness  and  gloomy  tranquillity.  She  sat  from 
morning  to  evening  recollecting  all  that 
had  been  done  or  said  by  her  Pekuah, 
treasured  up  with  care  every  trifle  on 
which  Pekuah  had  set  an  accidental  value, 
and  which  might  recall  to  mind  any  little 
incident  or  careless  conversation.  The 
sentiments  of  her,  whom  she  now  expected 
to  see  no  roo^c,  were  treasured  in  her 
memory  as  rules  of  life  ;  and  she  deliberated 
to  no  other  end  th^n  to  conjecture  on  any 
occasion,  what  \/o.)1q  have  been  the  opinion 
and  counsel  of  IVkuah. 

The  women  by  whom  she  was  attended 
knew  nothing  of  her  real  condition,  and 
therefore  she  coidd  not  talk  to  them  but 
with  caution  and  i«serve.  She  began  to 
remit  her  curiosity  having  no  great  care  to 
collect  notions  which  she  had  no  conven- 
j  ience  of  uttering.     Rasselas  endeavoured 


I  firs 


116  R  ASS  EL  AS. 


first  to  comfort,  and  afterwards  to  divert 
I  ler  5  he  hired  musicians,  to  whom  she 
,  9,'emed  to  listen,  but  did  not  hear  them, 
and  procured  masters  to  instruct  her  in  va- 
rious arts,  whose  lectures,  when  they  visit- 
ed her  acjain,  were  again  to  be  repeated. 
She  had  lost  her  taste  of  pleasure,  and  her 
ambition  of  excellence.  And  her  mind, 
though  forced  into  short  excursions,  always 
recurred  to  the  image  of  her  friend. 

Imlac  was  every  morning  earnestly  en- 
joined to  renew  his  inquiries,  and  was  ask- 
I  ed  every  night  whether  he  had  yet  heard  of 
!  Pekuah",  till,  not  being  able  to  return  the 
princess  the  answer  that  she  desired,  he 
was  less  and  less  willing  to  come  into  her 
presence.  She  observed  his  backwardness, 
and  commanded  him  to  attend  lier.  "You 
are  not."  said  she,  "  to  confound  impa- 
tience with  resentment,  or  to  suppose  that 
I  charge  you  with  negligence,  because  I 
repine  at  your  unsuccessfulness.  I  do  not 
much  wonder  at  your  absence;  I  know  that 
the  unhappy  are  never  pleasing,  and  that 
all  naturally  avoid  the  contagion  of  misery. 
To  hear  complaints  is  wearisome  alike  to 
the  wretched  and  the  happy ;  for  who 
would  cloud,  by  adventitious  grief,  the 
short  gleams  of  gnyety  which  life  allows 
us  ?  or  who,  that  is  struggling  under  his 
own  evils,  will  add  to  them  the  miseries  of 
another? 
'•The  rime  is  at  hand,  when  none  shall 


RASSELAS.  117 

be  disturbed  any  longer  by  the  sighs  of 
Nekayah  :  my  search  after  happiness  is  now 
at  an  end.  I  am  resolved  to  retire  from 
the  world,  with  all  its  flatteries  and  deceits, 
and  will  hide  myself  in  solitude,  without 
any  other  care  than  to  compose  my  thoughts, 
and  regulate  my  hours  by  a  constant  suc- 
cession of  innocent  occupations,  till,  with 
a  mind  purified  from  all  earthly  desires,  I 
shall  enter  into  that  state  to  which  all  are 
hastening,  and  in  which  I  hope  again  to  en- 
joy the  friendship  of  Pekuah." 

''  Do  not  entangle  your  mind/'  said  Im- 
lac,  '•'  by  irrevocable  determinations,  nor 
increase  the  burden  of  life  by  a  voluntary 
accumulation  of  misery  :  the  weariness  of 
retirement  will  continue  or  increase  when 
the  loss  of  Pekuah  is  forgotten.  That  you 
have  been  deprived  of  one  pleasure  is  no 
very  good  reason  for  rejection  of  the  rest." 
"  Since  Pekuah  was  taken  from  me," 
said  the  princess,  "  I  have  no  pleasure  to 
I  reject  or  to  retain.  She  that  has  no  one  to 
I  love  or  trust  has  little  to  hope.  She  wants 
the  radical  principle  of  happiness.  We 
may,  perhaps,  allow,  that  what  satisfaction 
this  world  can  afford,  must  arise  from  the 
conjunction  of  wealth,  knowledge,  and 
goodness  :  wealth  is  nothing  but  as  it  is 
bestowed,  and  knowledge  nothing  but  as  it 
is  communicated :  they  must  therefore  be  i 
imparted  to  others,  and  to  whom  could  I  ; 
now  delight  to  impart  them  ?     Goodness  • 


118  RASSELAS. 

affords  the  only  comfort  which  can  be  en- 
joyed without  a  partner,  and  goodness  may 
be  practised  in  retirement." 

"■  How  far  solitude  may  admit  goodness, 
or  advance  it,  I  shall  not,"  replied  Imlac, 
"  dispute  at  present.  Remember  the  con- 
fession of  the  pious  hermit.  You  will 
wish  to  return  into  the  world,  when  the 
image  of  your  companion  has  left  your 
thoughts." 

"  That  time,"  said  Nekayah,  "  will  never 
come.  The  generous  frankness,  the  mod- 
est obsequiousness,  and  the  faithful  secre- 
cy of  my  dear  Pekuah,  will  always  be  more 
missed  as  1  shall  live  longer  to  see  vice 
and  folly." 

"  The  state  of  a  mind  oppressed  with  a 
sudden  calamity,"  said  Imlac,  "  is  like  that 
of  the  fabulous  inhabitants  of  the  new-cre- 
ated earth,  who,  when  tlie  first  night  came 
upon  them,  supposed  that  day  would  never 
return.  When  the  clouds  of  sorrow  gather 
over  us,  we  see  nothing  beyond  them,  nor 
can  imagine  how  they  will  be  dispelled ; 
yet  a  new  day  succeeded  to  the  niglit,  and 
sorrow  is  never  long  without  a  dawn  of 
ease.  But  they  who  restrain  themselves 
from  receiving  comfort,  do  as  the  savages 
would  have  done,  had  they  put  out  their 
eyes  when  it  was  dark.  Our  minds,  like 
our  bodies,  are  in  continual  fluxj  some- 
thing is  hourly  lost,  and  something  acquir- 
ed.    To  lose  much  at  once  is  inconvenient 


RASSELAS.  IIS^ 

/  to  either,  but  while  the  vital  powers  remain  \ 
uninjured,  nature  will  find  the  means  of 
reparation.     Distance  has  the  same  effect 
I  on  the  mind  as  on  the  eye;  and  while  we 
I  glide  along  the  stream  of  time,  whatever  > 
1  we  leave  behind  us  is  always  lessening,  and 
(  that  which  we  approach  increasing  in  mag- 
nitude.    Do  not  suffer  life  to  stagnate ;  it 
will  grow  muddy  for  want  of  motion  ;  com- 
mit yourself  again   to   the   current  of  the 
world;  Pekuah  will  vanish  by  degrees;  you 
will  meet  in  your  way  some  other  favorite, 
or  learn  to  diffuse  yourself  in  general  con- 
versation." 

"  At  least,"  said  the  prince,  "  do  not 
despair  before  all  remedies  have  been 
tried ;  the  inquiry  after  the  unfortunate 
lady  is  still  continued,  and  shall  be  carried 
on  with  yet  greater  diligence,  on  condition 

I  that  you  will  promise  to  wait  a  year  for  the 
event,  without  any  unalterable  resolution." 
Nekayah  thought  this  a  reasonable  de- 
i  mand,  and  made  the  promise  to  her  broth- 
I  er,  who  had  been  advised  by  Imlac  to  re- 
!  quire  it.  Imlac  had,  indeed,  no  great  hope 
I  of  regaining  Pekuah,  but  he  supposed, 
[  that  if  he  could  secure  the  interval  of  a 
year,  the  princess  would  be  then  in  no  dan- 
ger of  a  cloister. 


120  RASSELAS. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

PEKXTAH  IS  STILL  REMEMBERED.     THE  PROGRESS 
OF   SORROW. 

Nekatah,  seeing  that  nothing  was  omit- 
ted for  the  recovery  of  her  favorite,  and 
having,  by  her  promise,  set  her  intention 
of  retirement  at  a  distance,  began  imper- 
ceptibly to  return  to  common  cares  and 
common  pleasures.  She  rejoiced  without 
her  own  consent  at  the  suspension  of  her 
sorrows,  and  sometimes  caught  herself 
with  indignation  in  the  act  of  turning  away 
her  mind  from  the  remembrance  of  her, 
whom  yet  she  resolved  never  to  forget. 

She  then  appointed  a  certain  hour  of  the 
day  for  meditation  on  the  merits  and  fond- 
ness of  Pekuah,  and  for  some  weeks  retired 
constantly  at  the  time  fi.xed,  and  returned 
with  her  eyes  swollen  and  her  countenance 
clouded.  By  degrees  she  grew  less  scru- 
pulous, and  suffered  any  important  and 
pressing  avocation  to  delay  the  tribute  of 
daily  tears.  She  then  yielded  to  less  occa- 
sions, sometimes  forgot  what  she  was  in- 
deed afraid  to  remember,  and,  at  last, 
wholly  released  herself  from  the  duty  of 
periodical  affliction. 

Her  real  love  of  Pekuah  was  yet  not  di- 
minished.  A  thousand  occurrences  brought 


RASSELAS.  121 

her  back  to  memory,  and  a  thousand  wants, 
which  nothing  but  the  confideuce  of  friend- 
ship can  supply,  made  her  frequently  re- 
gretted. She  therefore  solicited  Imlac 
never  to  desist  from  inquiry,  and  to  leave 
no  art  of  intelligence  untried,  that  at  least 
she  might  have  the  comfort  of  knowing 
that  she  did  not  suffer  by  negligence  or 
sluggishness.  "Yet  what,"  said  she,  "is 
to  be  expected  from  our  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness, when  we  find  the  state  of  life  to  be 
such,  that  happiness  itself  is  the  cause  of 
misery  1  Why  should  we  endeavour  to 
attain' that  of  which  the  possession  cannot 
be  secured  1  I  shall  henceforward  fear 
to  yield  my  heart  to  excellence,  however 
bright,  or  to  fondness,  however  tender,  lest 
I  should  lose  again  what  I  have  lost  in 
Pekuah." 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

THE  PRINCESS  HEARS  NEWS   OP  PEKUAH. 

Is  seven  months,  one  of  the  messengers, 
who  had  been  sent  away  upon  the  day  when 
the  promise  was  drawn  from  the  princess, 
returned,  after  many  unsuccessful  rambles, 
from  the  borders  of  Tsubia,  with  an  ac- 
count that  Pekuah  was  in  the  hand  of  an 
Arab  chief,  who  possessed  a  castle  or  for- 


122  RASSELAS. 

tress  on   the   extremity  of  Egypt.     The 
Arab,   whose   revenue   was   plunder,   was 
s  willing  to  restore  her,  with  her  two  attend- 
ants, for  two  hundred  ounces  of  gold. 

The  price  was  no  subject  of  debate. 
The  princess  was  in  ecstasies  when  she  | 
heard  that  her  favorite  was  alive,  and  might  ' 
so  cheaply  be  ransomed.  She  could  not 
think  of  delaying  for  a  moment  Pekuah's 
happiness  or  her  own,  but  entreated  her 
brother  to  send  back  the  messenger  v/ith 
the  sum  required.  Imlac  being  consulted, 
was  not  very  confident  of  the  veracity  of  the 
relator,  and  was  still  more  doubtful  of  the 
Arab's  faith,  who  might,  if  he  were  too 
liberally  trusted,  detain  at  once  the  money 
and  the  captives.  He  thought  it  dangerous 
to  put  themselves  in  the  power  of  the  Arab 
by  going  into  his  district,  and  could  not  ex- 
pect thac  the  rover  would  so  much  expose 
f  himself  as  fo  come  into  the  lower  country, 
'  where  he  might  be  seized  by  the  forces  of 
the  Bassa. 

It  is  difficult  to  negotiate  where  neither 
will  trust.  But  Imlac,  after  some  deliber- 
ation, directed  the  messenger  to  propose 
that  Pekuah  should  be  conducted  by  ten 
horsemen  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Antony, 
which  is  situated  in  the  deserts  of  Upper 
Egypt,  where  she  should  be  met  by  the 
same  number,  and  her  ransom  should  be 
paid. 

That  no  time  might  be  lost,  as  they  ex- 


RASSELAS.  123 

pected  that  the  proposal  would  not  be  re- 
fused, they  immediately  began  their  jour- 
ney to  the  monastery,  and  when  they  ar- 
rived, Imlac  went  forward  with  the  former 
messenger  to  the  Arab's  fortress.  Rasselas 
was  desirous  to  go  with  them  3  but  neither 
his  sister  nor  Imlac  would  consent.  The 
Arab,  according  to  the  custom  of  his  na- 
tion, observed  the  laws  of  hospitality  with 
great  exactness  to  those  who  put  them- 
selves into  his  power,  and,  in  a  few  days, 
brought  Pekuah  with  her  maids,  by  easy 
journeys,  to  the  place  appointed,  where, 
receiving  the  stipulated  price,  he  restored 
her  with  great  respect  to  liberty  and  her 
friends,  and  undertook  to  conduct  them 
back  towards  Cairo  beyond  all  danger  of 
robbery  or  violence. 

The  princess  and  her  favorite  embraced 
each  other  with  transport  too  violent  to  be 
expressed,  and  went  out  together  to  pour 
the  tears  of  tenderness  in  secret,  and  ex- 
change professions  of  kindness  and  grati- 
tude. After  a  few  hours  they  returned  into 
the  refectory  of  the  convent,  where,  in  the 
presence  of  the  prior  and  his  brethren,  the 

Erince  required  of  Pekuah  the  history  of 
er  adventures. 


124  RASSELAS. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIir. 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  LADY  PEKUAII. 

"  At  what  time,  and  in  what  manner  I 
was  forced  away,"  said  Pekuah,  "your 
servants  have  told  you.  The  suddenness 
of  the  event  struck  me  with  surprise,  and 
I  was  at  first  rather  stupefied  than  agitated 
with  any  passion  of  either  fear  or  sorrow. 
My  contusion  was  increased  by  the  speed 
and  tumult  of  our  flight,  while  we  were 
followed  by  the  Turks,  who,  as  it  seemed, 
soon  despaired  to  overtake  us,  or  were 
afraid  of  those  whom  they  made  a  show  of 
menacing. 

*'  When  the  Arabs  saw  themselves  out  of 
danger  they  slackened  their  course,  and  as 
I  was  less  harassed  by  external  violence,  I 
began  to  feel  more  uneasiness  in  my  mind. 
After  some  time  we  stopped  near  a  spring 
shaded  with  trees  in  a  pleasant  meadow, 
where  we  were  set  upon  the  ground,  and 
offered  such  refreshments  as  our  masters 
were  partaking.  I  was  suffered  to  sit  with 
my  maids  apart  from  the  rest,  and  none  at- 
tempted to  comfort  or  insult  us.  Here  I 
first  began  to  feci  the  full  weight  of  my 
misery.  The  girls  sat  weeping  in  silence, 
and  from  time  to  time  looked  on  me  for 
succour.  I  knew  not  to  what  condition 
we   were   doomed,  nor   could   conjecture 


RASSELAS.  125 

whero  would  be  the  place  of  our  captivity, 
or  whence  to  draw  any  hope  of  deliver- 
ance. I  was  in  the  hands  of  robbers  and 
savages,  and  had  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
their  pity  was  more  than  their  justice,  or 
thit  they  would  forbear  the  gratification  of 
any  ardor  of  desire  or  caprice  of  cruelty. 
I,  however,  kissed  my  maids,  and  endeav- 
oured to  pacify  them  by  remarking,  that 
we  were  yet  treated  with  decency,  and 
that,  since  we  were  nov/  carried  beyond 
pursuit,  there  was  no  danger  of  violence 
to  our  lives. 

''  When  we  were  to  be  set  again  on 
horseback,  my  maids  clung  round  me,  and 
refused  to  be  parted,  but  I  commanded 
them  not  to  irritate  those  who  had  us  in 
their  power.  We  travelled  the  remaining 
part  of  the  day  through  an  unfrequented 
and  pathless  country,  and  came  by  moon- 
light to  the  side  of  a  hill,  where  the  rest  of 
the  troop  was  stationed.  Their  tents  were 
pitched,  and  their  fires  kindled,  and  our 
chief  was  welcomed  as  a  man  much  be- 
loved by  his  dependents. 

"  We  were  received  into  a  large  tent, 
where  we  found  women  who  had  attended 
their  husbands  in  the  expedition.  They 
set  before  us  the  supper  which  they  had 
provided,  and  I  ate  rather  to  encourage  my 
maids,  than  to  comply  with  any  appetite  of 
my  own.  When  the  meat  was  taken  away, 
they  spread  the  carpets  for  repose.     I  was 


12b'  RASSBLAS. 

weary,  and  hoped  to  find  in  sleep  that  re- 
mission of  distress  which  nature  seldom 
denies.  Ordering  myself  therefore  to  be 
undressed,  I  observed  that  the  women 
looked  very  earnestly  upon  me,  not  expect- 
ing, I  suppose,  to  see  me  so  submissively 
attended.  When  my  upper  vest  was  taken 
off,  they  were  apparently  struck  with  the 
splendor  of  my  clothes,  and  one  of  them 
timorously  laid  her  hand  upon  the  em- 
broidery. She  then  went  out,  and  in  a 
short  time  came  back  with  another  woman, 
who  seemed  to  be  of  higher  rank  and 
greater  authority.  She  did,  at  her  en- 
trance, the  usual  act  of  reverence,  and 
taking  me  by  the  hand,  placed  me  in  a  ' 
smaller  tent,  spread  with  finer  carpets,  . 
where  I  spent  the  night  quietly  with  my  ^ 
maids.  j 

"  In  the  morning,  as  I  was  sitting  on  the 
grass,  the  chief  of  the  troop  came  towards 
me.  I  rose  up  to  receive  him,  and  he 
bowed  with  great  respect.  '  Illustrious 
lady,'  said  he,  '  my  fortune  is  better  than 
I  have  presumed  to  hope  :  I  am  told  by  my 
women  that  I  have  a  princess  in  my  camp.' 
'  Sir,'  answered  I,  '  your  women  have  de- 
ceived themselves  and  you  ;  I  am  not  a 
princess,  but  an  unhappy  stranger,  who  in- 
tended soon  to  have  left  this  country,  in 
which  I  am  now  to  be  imprisoned  for  ever.' 
'Whoever  or  whencesoever  you  are,'  re 
turned  the  Arab,  '  your  dress,  and  that  o' 


RASSELAS.  127 

your  servants,  show  your  rank  to  be  high 
and  your  wealth  to  be  great.  Why  should 
you,  who  can  so  easily  procure  your  ran- 
som, think  yourself  in  danger  of  perpetual 
captivity  ?  The  purpose  of  my  incursions 
is  to  increase  my  riches,  or,  more  properly, 
to  gather  tribute.  The  sons  of  Ishmael 
are  the  natural  and  hereditary  lords  of  this 
part  of  the  continent,  which  is  usurped  by 
late  invaders,  and  low-born  tyrants,  from 
whom  we  are  compelled  to  take  by  the 
sword  what  is  denied  to  justice.  The  vio- 
lence of  war  admits  no  distinction  ;  the 
lance  that  is  lifted  at  guilt  and  power  will 
sometimes  fall  on  innocence  and  gentle- 
ness.' 

"■ '  How  little,'  said  I,  '  did  I  expect  that 
yesterday  it  should  have  fallen  upon  me  ! ' 

" '  Misfortunes,'  answered  the  Arab, 
'  should  always  be  expected.  If  the  eye 
of  hostility  could  learn  reverence  or  pity, 
excellence  like  yours  had  been  exempt 
from  injury.  But  the  angels  of  affliction 
spread  their  toils  alike  for  the  virtuous  and 
the  wicked,  for  the  mighty  and  the  mean. 
Do  not  be  disconsolate  :  T  am  not  one  of 
the  lawless  and  cruel  rovers  of  the  desert; 
I  know  the  rules  of  civil  life  :  I  will  fix 
your  ransom,  give  a  passport  to  your  mes- 
senger, and  perform  my  stipulation  with 
nice  punctuality.' 

"  You  will  easily  believe  that  1  was 
pleased  with  his  courtesy  :  and  finding  that 


128  RASSELAS. 

his  predominant  passion  was  desire  of  mon- 
ey, 1  began  now  to  think  my  danger  less, 
for  I  knew  that  no  sum  would  be  thought 
too  great  for  the  release  of  Pekuah.  I  told 
him  that  he  should  have  no  reason  to 
charge'me  with  ingratitude,  if  I  was  used 
with  kindness,  and  that  any  ransom  which 
could  be  expected  for  a  maid  of  common 
rank  would  be  paid  5  but  that  he  must  not 
persist  to  rate  me  as  a  princess.  He  said 
he  would  consider  what  he  should  demand  3 
and  then  smiling,  bowed  and  retired. 

''  Soon  after,  the  women  came  about  me, 
each  contending  to  be  more  officious  than 
the  other,  and  my  maids  themselves  were 
served  with  reverence.  We  travelled  on- 
ward by  short  journeys.  On  the  fourth  day 
the  chief  told  me,  that  my  ransom  must  be 
two  hundred  ounces  of  gold;  which  I  not 
only  promised  but  told  him  that  I  would 
add  fifty  more,  if  I  and  my  maids  were 
honorably  treated. 

"  I  never  knew  the  power  of  gold  before. 
From  that  time  I   was  the  leader  of  the 
troop.    The  march  of  every  day  was  long- 
er  or  shorter  as   I   commanded,  and   the 
tents  were  pitched  where  I  chose  to  rest. 
We  now  had  camels  and  other  convenicn- 
cies  for  travel,  my  own  women  were  al- 
ways at  my  side,  and  I  amused  myself  with  [ 
observing  the  manners  of  the  vagrant  na-  I 
tions,  and  with  viewing  remains  of  ancient  { 
edifices,  with  which  these  deserted  coun-  I 


RASSBLAS.  129 

tries  appear  to  have  been,  in  some  distant 
age,  lavishly  embellished. 

"  The  chief  of  the  band  was  a  man  far 
from  illiterate  :  he  was  able  to  travel  by  the 
stars  or  the  compass,  and  had  marked,  in 
his  erratic  expeditions,  such  places  as  are 
most  worthy  the  notice  of  a  passenger. 
He  observed  to  me,  that  buildings  are  al- 
ways best  preserved  in  places  little  fre- 
quented, and  difficult  of  access  :  for,  when 
once  a  country  declines  from  its  primitive 
splendor,  the  more  inhabitants  are  left  the 
quicker  ruin  will  be  made.  Walls  supply 
stones  more  easily  than  quarries,  and  pal- 
aces cjid  temples  will  be  demolished,  to 
make  stables  of  granite  and  cottages  of 
porphyry." 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

THE  ADVENTURES   OP  PEKUAH   CONTINUED. 

"  We  wandered  about  in  this  manner  for 
some  weeks,  whether,  as  or.r  chief  pre- 
tended, for  my  gratification,  or,  as  I  rather 
suspected,  for  some  convenience  of  his 
own.  I  endeavoured  to  appear  contented, 
where  suUenness  and  resentment  would 
have  been  of  no  use,  and  that  endeavour 
conduced  much  to  the  calmness  of  my 
mind  3  but  my  heart  was  always  with  Ne- 


130  RASSBLAS. 

kayah,  and  the  troubles  of  the  night  much 
overbalanced  the  amusements  of  the  day. 
My  women,  who  threw  all  their  cares  upon 
their  mistress,  set  their  minds  at  ease  from 
the  time  when  they  saw  me  treated  with 
respect,  and  gave  themselves  up  to  the  in- 
cidental alleviations  of  our  fatigue  without 
solicitude  or  sorrow,  f  was  pleased  with 
their  pleasure,  and  animated  with  their 
confidence.  My  condition  had  lost  much 
of  its  terror,  since  I  found  that  the  Arab 
ranged  the  country  merely  to  get  riches. 
Avarice  is  a  uniform  and  tractable  vice : 
other  intellectual  distempers  are  different 
in  different  constitutions  of  mind ;  that 
which  soothes  the  pride  of  one  will  offend 
the  pride  of  another;  but  to  the  favor  of 
the  covetous  there  is  a  ready  way ;  bring 
money,  and  nothing  is  denied. 

"  At  last  we  came  to  the  dwelling  of  our 
chief,  a  strong  and  spacious  house,  built 
with  stone,  in  an  island  of  the  Nile,  which 
lies,  as  I  was  told,  under  the  tropic.  '  La- 
dy,' said  the  Arab,  'you  shall  rest  after 
your  journey  a  few  weeks  in  this  place, 
where  you  are  to  consider  yourself  as 
sovereign.  My  occupation  is  war:  I  have 
therefore  chosen  tliis  obscure  residence, 
from  which  I  can  issue  unexpected,  and  to 
which  I  can  retire  unpursued.  You  may 
now  repose  in  security  :  here  are  few  pleas- 
ures, but  here  is  no  danger.'  He  then  led 
me  into  the  inner  apartments,  and  seating 


RASSELAS.  131 

me  on  the  richest  couch,  bowed  to  the 
ground.  His  women,  who  considered  me 
as  a  rival,  looked  on  me  with  malignity : 
but  being  soon  informed  that  I  was  a  great 
lady,  detained  only  for  my  ransom,  they  be- 
gan to  vie  with  each  other  in  obsequious- 
ness and  reverence. 

"  Being  again  comforted  with  new  as- 
surances of  speedy  liberty,  I  was  for  some 
days  diverted  from  impatience  by  the  nov- 
elty of  the  place.  The  turrets  overlooked 
the  country  to  a  great  distance,  and  afforded 
a  view  of  many  windings  of  the  stream. 
In  the  day  I  wandered  from  one  place  to 
another,  as  the  course  of  the  sun  varied 
the  splendor  of  the  prospect,  and  saw  many 
things  which  I  had  never  seen  before.  The 
crocodiles  and  river  horses  are  common  in 
this  unpeopled  region,  and  I  often  looked 
upon  them  with  terror,  though  I  knew  they 
could  not  hurt  me.  For  some  time  I  ex- 
pected to  see  mermaids  and  tritons,  which, 
as  Imlac  has  told  me,  the  European  travel- 
lers have  stationed  in  the  Nile  :  but  no 
such  beings  ever  appeared,  and  the  Arab, 
when  I  inquired  after  them,  laughed  at  my 
credulity. 

"  At  night  the  Arab  always  attended  me 
to  a  tower  set  apart  for  celestial  observa- 
tion3;  where  he  endeavoured  to  teach  me 
the  names  and  courses  of  the  stars.  I  had 
no  great  inclination  to  this  study,  but  an 
appearance  of  attention  was  necessary  to 


f 


132  RASSELAS.  I 

please  my  instructor,  who  valued  himself  1 
for  his  skill ;  and,  in  a  little  while,  I  found 
some  employment  requisite  to  begr'.le  the 
tediousness  of  time,  which  was  to  l^  issed 
always  amidst  the  same  objects,  i,  was 
weary  of  looking  in  the  morning  on  things 
from  which  I  had  turned  away  weary  in  the 
evening  :  I  therefcwe  was  at  last  willing  to 
observe  the  stars  rather  than  do  nothing, 
but  could  not  always  compose  my  th  *  o-lits, 
and  was  very  often  thinking  on  1\  p^ah 
when  others  imagined  me  contemplating 
the  sky.  Soon  after,  the  Arab  went  upon 
another  expedition,  and  then  my  only  pleas- 
ure was  to  talk  with  my  maids  about  the 
accident  by  which  we  were  carried  away, 
and  the  happiness  that  we  should  all  enjoy 
at  the  end  of  our  captivity." 

"  There  were  women  in  your  Arab's  for- 
tress," said  the  princess,  "why  did  you 
not  make  them  companions,  enjoy  their 
conversation,  and  partake  their  diversions  ? 
In  a  place  where  they  found  business  or 
amusement,  why  should  you  alone  sit  cor- 
roded with  idle  melancholy  ?  or  why  could 
not  you  bear,  for  a  few  months,  that  con- 
dition to  which  they  were  condemned  for 
life  ?  " 

"The  diversions  of  the  women,"  an- 
swered Pekuah,  "were  only  childish  play, 
by  which  the  mind,  accustomed  to  stronger 
operations,  could  not  be  kept  busy.  I 
could  do  all  which  they  delighted  in  doing 


RASSBLAS.  133 

by  powers  merely  sensitive,  while  my  in- 
tellectual faculties  were  flown  to  Cairo. 
They  ran  from  room  to  room,  as  a  bird  hops 
from  wire  to  wire  in  his  cage.  They  danced 
for  the  sake  of  motion,  as  lambs  frisk  in  a 
meadow.  One  sometimes  pretended  to  be 
hurt,  that  the  rest  might  be  alarmed  5  or 
hid  herself,  that  another  might  seek  her. 
Part  of  their  time  passed  in  watching  the 
progress  of  light  bodies  that  floated  on  the 
river,  and  part  in  marking  the  various  forms 
into  which  clouds  broke  in  the  sky. 

'•'  Their  business  was  only  needlework, 
in  which  I  and  my  maids  sometimes  helped 
them  5  but  you  know  that  the  mind  will 
easily  straggle  from  the  Angers,  nor  will 
you  suspect  that  captivity  and  absence 
from  Nekayah  could  receive  solace  from 
silken  flowers. 

"  Nor  was  much  satisfaction  to  be  hoped 
from  their  conversation  :  for  of  what  could 
they  be  expected  to  talk  ?  They  had  seen 
nothing  3  for  they  had  lived  from  early 
youth  in  that  narrow  spot ;  of  what  they 
had  not  seen  they  could  have  no  knowl- 
edge, for  they  could  not  read.  They  had 
no  ideas  but  of  xhe  few  things  that  were 
within  their  view,  and  had  hardly  names 
for  any  thing  but  their  clothes  and  their 
food.  As  I  bore  a  superior  character,  I 
was  often  called  tc  terminate  their  quarrels, 
which  I  decided  as  equitably  as  I  could. 
If  it  Gould  have  amused  me  to  he&r  the 


134  RASSELAS. 

complaints  of  each  against  the  rest,  I 
might  have  been  often  detained  by  long 
stories}  but  the  motives  of  their  animosity 
were  so  small  that  I  could  not  listen  with- 
out interrupting  the  tale." 

"  How,"  said  Rasselas,  "  can  the  Arab, 
whom  you  represented  as  a  man  of  more 
than  common  accomplishments,  take  any 
pleasure  in  his  seraglio  when  it  is  filled 
only  with  women  like  these  1  Are  they 
exquisitely  beautiful  ?  " 

"  They  do  not,"  said  Pekuah,  "  want 
that  unatfecting  and  ignoble  beauty  which 
may  subsist  without  sprightliness  or  sublim- 
ity, without  energy  of  thought  or  dignity  of 
virtue.  But  to  a  man  like  the  Arab  such 
beauty  was  only  a  flower  casually  plucked 
and  carelessly  thrown  away.  Whatever 
pleasures  he  might  find  among  them,  they 
were  not  those  of  friendship  or  society. 
When  they  were  playing  about  him  he 
looked  on  them  with  inattentive  superiori- 
ty 5  when  tliey  vied  for  his  regard  he  some- 
times turned  away  disgusted.  As  they  had 
no  knowledge,  their  talk  could  take  nothing 
from  the  tediousness  of  life  :  as  they  had 
no  choice,  their  fondness,  or  appearance  of 
fondness,  excited  in  him  neither  pride  nor 
gratitude ;  he  was  not  exalted  in  his  own 
esteem  by  the  smiles  of  a  woman  who  saw 
no  other  man,  nor  was  much  obliged  by 
that  regard,  of  which  he  could  never  know 
the  sincerity,  and  which  he  might  often 


RABSELAS.  135 

perceive  to  be  exerted,  not  so  much  to  de- 
light him  as  to  pain  a  rival.  That  which 
he  gave,  and  they  received,  as  love,  was 
only  a  careless  distribution  of  superfluous 
time  ;  such  love  as  man  can  bestow  upon 
that  which  he  despises,  such  as  has  neither 
hope  nor  fear,  neither  joy  nor  sorrow." 

"'  Ye  have  reason,  lady,  to  think  yourself 
hap^y,"  said  Imlac,  '■'  that  you  have  been 
thus  easily  dismissed.  How  could  a  mind, 
hungry  for  knowledge,  be  willing,  in  an  in- 
tellectual famine,  to  lose  such  a  banquet  as 
Pekuah's  conversation  ] " 

"I  am  inclined  to  believe,"  answered 
Pekuah,  '^  that  he  was  for  some  time  in 
suspense  :  for,  notwithstanding  his  prom- 
ise, whenever  I  proposed  to  despatch  a 
messenger  to  Cairo,  he  found  some  excuse 
for  delay.  While  I  was  detained  in  his 
house  he  made  many  incursions  into  the 
neighbouring  countries,  and  perhaps  he 
would  have  refused  to  discharge  me,  had 
his  plunder  been  equal  to  his  wishes.  He 
returned  always  courteous,  related  his  ad- 
ventures, delighted  to  hear  my  observa- 
tions, and  endeavoured  to  advance  my  ac- 
quaintance with  the  stars.  When  I  impor- 
tuned him  to  send  away  my  letters,  he 
soothed  me  with  professions  of  honor,  and 
sincerity  ;  and,  when  I  could  be  no  longer 
decently  denied,  put  his  troop  again  in 
motion  and  left  me  to  govern  in  his  ab- 
sence.    I  was  much  afflicted  by  this  studied 


136  RASSELAS.  I 

procrastination,  and  was  sometimes  afraid 
that  I  should  be  forgotten  ;  that  you  would 
leave  Cairo,  and  I  must  end  my  days  in  an 
island  of  the  JNile. 

"  I  grew  at  last  hopeless  and  dejected, 
and  cared  so  little  to  entertain  him,  that  he 
for  a  while  more  frequently  talked  with  my 
maids.  That  he  should  fall  in  love  with 
them  or  with  me  might  have  been  equally 
fatal,  and  I  was  not  much  pleased  with  the 
growing  friendship.  My  anxiety  was  not 
long;  for,  as  I  recovered  some  degree  of 
cheerfulness,  he  returned  to  me,  and  I 
could  not  forbear  to  despise  my  former 
uneasiness. 

"  He  still  delayed  to  send  for  my  ransom, 
and  would,  perhaps,  never  have  determined, 
had  not  your  agent  found  his  way  to  him. 
The  gold,  which  he  would  not  fetch,  he 
could  not  reject  when  it  was  offered.  He 
hastened  to  prepare  our  journey  hither, 
like  a  man  delivered  from  an  intestine  con- 
flict. I  took  leave  of  my  companions  in  the 
house,  who  dismissed  me  with  cold  indif- 
ference." 

Nekayah,  having  heard  her  favorite's  re- 
lation, rose  and  embraced  her,  and  Rasselas 
gave  her  a  hundred  ounces  of  gold,  which 
she  presented  to  the  Arab  for  the  fifty  that 
were  promised. 


|l 


BASSELAS.  137 

CHAPTER  XL. 

THE  HISTORY   OP  A  MAN   OF  LEARNING. 

They  returned  to  Cairo,  and  were  so 
well  pleased  at  finding  themselves  togeth- 
er, that  none  of  them  went  much  abroad. 
The  prince  began  to  love  learning,  and 
one  day  declared  to  Imlac,  that  he  intended 
to  devote  himself  to  science,  and  pass  the 
rest  of  his  days  in  literary  solitude. 

'•'  Before  you  make  your  final  choice," 
answered  Imlac,  "  you   ought  to  examine 
its  hazards,  and  converse  with  those  who 
are  grown  old  in  the   company  of  them- 
selves.    I  have  just  left  the  observatory  of 
one  of  the  most  learned  astronomers  in  the 
world,  who  has  spent  forty  years   in  un- 
,  wearied  attention  to  the  motions  and  ap- 
j  pearances  of  the  celestial  bodies,  and  has 
I  drawn  out  his  soul  in  endless  calculations. 
He  admits  a  few  friends  once  a  month  to 
I  hear  his  deductions  and  enjoy  his  discov- 
eries.    I  was  introduced  as  a  man  of  knowl- 
edge worthy  of  his  notice.     Men  of  vari- 
ous ideas  and  fluent  conversation  are  com- 
monly welcome  to  those  whose  thoughts 
have  been  long  fi.xed  upon  a  single  point, 
I  .md  who  find  the   images  of  other  things 
I  steaUng  away.     I  delighted  him  with  my 
remarks;  he  smiled  at  the  narrative  of  my 


138  RASSBl.4.8. 

travels  j  and  was  glad  to  forget  the  constel 
lations,  and  descend  fcr  a  moment  into  thtf 
lower  world. 

'•  On  the  next  day  of  vacation  I  renewed 
my  visit,  and  was  so  fortunate  as  to  please 
him  again.  He  relaxed  from  that  time  the 
severity  of  this  rule,  and  permitted  me  to 
enter  at  my  own  choice.  I  found  him  al- 
ways busy,  and  always  glad  lo  be  relieved. 
As  each  knew  much  which  the  other  was 
desirous  of  learning,  we  exchanged  our 
notions  with  great  delight.  I  perceived 
that  I  had  every  day  more  of  his  confi- 
dence, and  always  found  new  cause  of  ad- 
miration in  the  profundity  of  his  mind. 
His  comprehension  is  vast,  his  memory 
capacious  and  retentive,  his  discourse  is 
methodical,  and  his  expression  clear. 

''  His  integrity  and  benevolence  are  equal 
to  his  learning.  His  deepest  researches, 
and  most  favorite  studies,  are  willingly 
interrupted  for  any  opportunity  of  doing 
good  by  his  counsel  or  his  riches.  To  his 
closest  retreat,  at  his  most  busy  moments, 
all  are  admitted  that  want  his  assistance  : 
'  For  though  I  exclude  idleness  and  pleas- 
ure, I  will  never,'  says  he,  '  bar  my  doors 
against  charity.  To  man  is  permitted  the 
contemplation  of  the  skies,  but  the  practice 
of  virtue  is  commanded.'  " 

''  Surely,"  said  the  princess,  "  this  man 
is   happy." 

"  I  visited  him,"  said  Inilac,  "with  more 


RASSBLAS.  139 

and  more  frequency,  and  was  every  time 
more  enamoured  of  his  conversation  :  he 
was  sublime  without  haughtiness,  courte- 
ous without  formality,  and  communicative 
without  ostentation.  I  was  at  first,  great 
princess,  of  your  opinion,  thought  him  the 
happiest  of  mankind,  and  often  congratu- 
lated him  on  the  blessing  that  he  enjoyed. 
He  seemed  to  hear  nothing  with  indiifer- 
ence  but  the  praises  of  his  condition,  to 
which  he  always  returned  a  general  answer, 
and  diverted  the  conversation  to  some  other 
topic. 

"  Amidst  this  willingness  to  be  pleased 
and  labor  to  please,  I  had  quickly  reason 
to  imagine  that  some  painful  sentiment 
pressed  upon  his  mind.  He  often  looked 
up  earnestly  towards  the  sun,  and  let  his 
voice  fall  in  the  midst  of  his  discourse. 
He  would  sometimes,  when  we  were  alone, 
gaze  upon  me  in  silence,  with  the  air  of  a 
man  who  longed  to  speak  what  he  was  yet 
resolved  to  suppress.  He  would  often  send 
for  me  with  vehement  injunctions  of  haste, 
though,  when  I  came  to  him,  he  had  noth- 
ing extraordinary  to  say.  And  sometimes, 
when  I  was  leaving  him,  would  call  me 
back,  pause  a  few  moments,  and  then  dis- 
miss me." 


140  RASSSLAS. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

THE  ASTRONOMER  DISCOVERS  THE   CAISE  OP 
HIS    UNEASINESS. 

*'  At  last  the  time  came  when  the  secret 
burst  his  reserve.  We  were  sitting  togeth- 
er last  night  in  the  turret  of  his  house, 
watching  the  emersion  of  a  satellite  of 
Jupiter.  A  sudden  tempest  clouded  the 
sky,  and  disappointed  our  observation.  We 
sat  a  while  silent  in  the  dark,  and  then  he 
addressed  himself  to  me  in  these  words  : 
'  Imlac,  I  have  long  considered  thy  friend- 
ship as  the  greatest  blessing  of  my  life. 
Integrity  without  knowledge  is  weak  and 
useless,  and  knowledge  without  integrity 
is  dangerous  and  dreadful.  I  have  found 
in  thee  all  the  qualities  requisite  for  trust, 
benevolence,  experience,  and  fortitude.  I 
have  long  discharged  an  office  which  I 
must  soon  quit  at  the  call  of  nature,  and 
shall  rejoice,  in  the  hour  of  imbecility  and 
pain,  to  devolve  it  upon  thee.' 

"  I  thought  myself  honored  by  this  testi- 
mony, and  protested,  that  whatever  could 
conduce  to  his  happiness  would  add  like- 
wise to  mine. 

'' '  Hear,  Imlac,  what  thou  wilt  not  with- 
out difficulty  credit.  I  have  possessed  for 
five  years  the  regulation  of  the  weather, 


RASSELAS.  141 

and  the  distribution  of  the  seasons  3  the 
sun  has  listened  to  my  dictates,  and  passed 
from  tropic  to  tropic  by  my  direction  ;  the 
clouds,  at  my  call,  have  poured  their  waters, 
and  the  aXile  has  overflowed  at  my  com- 
mand; I  have  restrained  the  rage  of  the 
dog-star,  and  mitigated  the  fervors  of  the 
crab.  The  winds  alone,  of  all  the  ele- 
mental powers,  have  hitherto  refused  my 
authority,  and  multitudes  have  perished  by 
equinoctial  tempests,  which  I  found  myself 
unable  to  prohibit  or  restrain.  I  have  ad- 
ministered this  great  office  with  exact  jus- 
tice, and  made  to  the  different  nations  of 
the  earth  an  impartial  dividend  of  rain  and 
sunshine.  What  must  have  been  the  mis- 
ery of  half  the  globe,  if  I  had  limited  the 
clouds  to  particular  regions,  or  confined  the 
sun  to  either  side  of  the  equator  1 " 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

THfi  OPINION  OF  THE  ASTRONOMER  IS  EXPLAINED 
AND  JUSTIFIED. 

"  I  SUPPOSE  he  discovered  in  nr.e, 
through  the  obscurity  of  the  room,  some 
tokens  of  amazement  and  doubt ;  for,  after 
a  short  pause,  he  proceeded  thus  :  — 

'•' '  Not  to  be  easily  credited  will  neither 
surprise  nor  offend  me  ;  for  I  am,  probably. 


142  RASSELAS. 

the  first  of  human  beings  to  whom  this 
trust  has  been  imparted.  Nor  do  1  know 
wliether  to  deem  this  distinction  a  reward 
or  punishment ;  since  I  have  possessed  it  I 
have  been  far  less  happy  than  before,  and 
nothing  but  the  consciousness  of  good  in- 
tention could  have  enabled  me  to  support 
the  weariness  of  unremitted  vigilance.' 

" '  How  long,  Sir,"  said  I,  '  has  this 
great  office  been  in  your  hands  ?  ' 

" '  About  ten  years  ago/  said  he,  '  my 
daily  observations  of  the  changes  of  the 
sky  led  me  to  consider,  whether,  if  I  had 
the  power  of  the  seasons,  I  could  confer 
greater  plenty  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the 
earth.  This  contemplation  fastened  on 
my  mind,  and  I  sat  days  and  nights  in  im- 
aginary dominion,  pouring  upon  this  coun- 
try and  that  the  showers  of  fertility,  and 
seconding  every  fall  of  rain  with  a  due 
proportion  of  sunshine.  I  had  yet  only 
the  will  to  do  good,  and  did  not  imagine 
that  I  should  ever  have  the  power. 

'' '  One  day,  as  I  was  looking  on  the 
fields  withering  with  heat,  1  felt  in  my 
mind  a  sudden  wish  that  I  could  send  rain 
on  the  southern  mountains,  and  raise  the 
Nile  to  an  inundation.  In  the  hurry  of  my 
imagination  I  commanded  rain  rain  to  and 
by  comparing  the  time  of  my  command 
with  that  of  the  inundation,  1  found  that 
the  clouds  had  listened  to  my  lips.' 

"'MiL'ht  not  some  other  cause,'  said  I, 


RASSELAS.  143 

'produce  this  concurrence  ?  the  Nile  does 
not  always  rise  on  the  same  day.' 

"  '  Do  not  believe/  said  he  with  impa- 
tience, •  that  such  objections  could  escape 
me  :  I  reasoned  long  against  my  own  con- 
viction, and  labored  against  truth  with  the 
utmost  obstinacy.  I  sometimes  suspected 
myself  of  madness,  and  should  not  have 
dared  to  impart  this  secret  but  to  a  man 
like  you,  capable  of  distinguishing  the 
wonderful  from  the  impossible,  and  the  in- 
credible from  the  false.' 

"  '  Why,  Sir,'  said  I,  '  do  you  call  that 
incredible,  which  you  know,  or  think  you 
know,  to  be  true  ?  ' 

'•■ '  Because,'  said  he,  '  I  cannot  prove  it 
by  any  external  evidence  j  and  1  know  too 
well  the  laws  of  demonstration  to  think 
that  my  conviction  ought  to  influence  an- 
other, who  cannot,  like  me,  be  conscious 
of  its  force.  I  therefore  shall  not  attempt 
to  gain  credit  by  disputation.  It  is  suffi- 
cient that  I  feel  this  power,  that  I  have 
long  possessed,  and  every  day  exerted  it. 
But  the  life  of  man  is  short,  the  infirmities 
of  age  increase  upon  me,  and  the  time  will 
soon  come,  when  the  regulator  of  the  year 
must  mingle  with  the  dust.  The  care  of 
appointing  a  successor  has  long  disturbed 
me  5  the  night  and  the  day  have  been  spent 
in  comparisons  of  all  the  characters  which 
have  come  to  my  knowledge,  and  I  have 
yet  found  none  so  worthy  as  thyself.' 


|w 


144  RASSELAS. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

TllE  ASTRONOMER    LEAVES   IMLAC   HIS    DIREC- 
TIONS. 

"  '  Hear,  therefore,  what  I  shall  impart 
with  attention,  such  as  the  welfare  of  a 
.'orld  requires.  If  the  task  of  a  king  be 
considered  as  difficult,  who  has  the  care 
only  of  a  few  millions,  to  whom  he  cannot 
do  much  good  or  harm,  what  must  be  the 
anxiety  of  him,  on  whom  depends  the  ac- 
tion of  the  elements,  and  the  great  gifts  of 
light  and  heat !  —  Hear  me  therefore  with 
attention. 

•• '  I  have  diligently  considered  the  posi- 
tion of  the  earth  and  sun,  and  formed  in- 
numerable schemes  in  which  I  changed 
their  situation.  I  have  sometimes  turned 
aside  the  axis  of  the  earth,  and  sometimes 
varied  the  ecliptic  of  the  sun  ;  but  I  have 
found  it  impossible  to  make  a  disposition 
by  which  the  world  may  be  advantaged  5 
what  one  region  gains,  another  loses  by 
any  imaginable  alteration,  even  without 
considering  the  distant  parts  of  the  solar 
system  with  which  we  are  unacquainted. 
Do  not  therefore,  in  thy  administration  of 
the  year,  indulge  thy  pride  by  innovation  ; 
do  not  please  tiiyself  with  thinking  that 
tliou  canst  make  thyself  renowned  to  all 


i 


RASSELAS.  l-iO 

future   ages    by   disordering  the   seasons. 
The  memory  of  mischief  is  no  desirable 
fame.     Much  less  will  it  become  thee  to  ! 
let  kindness   or   interest  prevail.      Never  j 
rob  other  countries  of  rain  to  pour  it  on  ] 
thine  own.     For  us  the  ]\ile  is  sufficient.' 

"  I  promised,  that  when  I  possessed  the  I 
power,  I  would  use  it  with  inflexible  integ-  I 
rity;    and  he  dismissed  me,  pressing  my  1 
hand.     '  My  heart/  said  he,  '  will  be  now 
at  rest,  and  my  benevolence  will  no  more 
destroy  my  quiet ;  I  have  found  a  man  of 
wisdom  and  virtue,  to  whom  I  can  cheer- 
fully bequeath  the  inheritance  of  the  sun.'  "  j 

The  prince  heard  this  narration  with  very 
serious  regard ;    but  the  princess    smiled,  1 
and  Pekuah  convulsed  herself  with  laugh-  j 
ter.     "Ladies,"  said  Imlac,  "to  mock  the 
heaviest   of   human   afflictions   is   neither  | 
charitable    nor  wise.     Few  can  attain  this  j 
man's   knowledge,   and    few    practise   his 
virtues  5  but  all   may  suffer  his  calamity. 
Of  the  uncertainties  of  our  present  state, 
the  most  dreadful  and  alarming  is  the  un- 
certain continuance  of  reason." 

The  princess  was  recollected,  and  the  fa- 
vorite was  abashed.  Rasselas,  more  deeply 
affected,  inquired  of  Imlac,  whether  he 
thought  such  maladies  of  the  mind  fre- 
quent, and  how  they  were  contracted  ? 


146  RASSSLAB. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

THE   DANGEROUS   PREVALENCE   OF  IMACINATI  )N. 

"Disorders  of  intellect,"  answered 
Imlac,  "  happen  much  more  often  than 
superficial  observers  will  easily  believe. 
Perhaps,  if  we  speak  with  rigorous  exact- 
ness,, no  human  mind  is  in  its  right  state. 
There  is  no  man  whose  imagination  does 
not  sometimes  predominate  over  his  rea- 
son ;  who  can  regulate  his  attention  wholly 
by  his  will,  and  whose  ideas  will  come  and 
go  at  his  command.  No  man  will  be  found 
in  whose  mind  airy  notions  do  not  some- 
times tyrannize,  and  force  him  to  hope  or 
fear  beyond  the  limits  of  sober  probability. 
All  power  of  fancy  over  reason  is  a  degree 
of  insanity ;  but  while  this  power  is  such 
as  we  can  control  and  repress,  it  is  not 
visible  to  others,  nor  considered  as  any 
depravation  of  the  mental  fiiculties  :  it  is 
not  pronounced  madness  but  when  it  be- 
comes ungovernable,  and  apparently  influ- 
ences speech  or  action. 

"  To  indulge  the  power  of  fiction,  and 
send  imagination  out  upon  the  wing,  is 
often  the  sport  of  those  who  delight  too 
much  in  silent  speculation.  When  we  are 
alone  we  are  not  always  busy  ;  the  labor 
of  excogitation  is  too  violent  to  last  longj 


RAS8ELAS.  147 

the  ardor  of  inquiry  will  sometimes  give 
way  to  idleness  or  satiety.  He  who  has 
nothing  external  that  can  divert  him,  must 
find  pleasure  in  his  own  thoughts,  and  must 
conceive  himself  what  he  is  not  5  for  who 
is  pleased  with  what  he  is?  He  then  ex- 
patiates in  boundless  futurity,  and  culls 
from  all  imaginable  conditions  that  which 
for  the  present  moment  he  should  most 
desire,  amuses  his  desires  with  impossible 
enjoyments,  and  confers  upon  his  pride 
unattainable  dominion.  The  mind  dances 
from  scene  to  scene,  unites  all  pleasures 
in  all  combinations,  and  riots  in  delights, 
which  nature  and  fortune,  with  all  their 
bounty,  cannot  bestow. 

"  In  time,  some  particular  train  of  ideas 
fixes  the  attention ;  all  other  intellectual 
gratifications  are  rejected  ;  the  mind,  in 
weariness  or  leisure,  recurs  constantly  to 
the  favorite  conception,  and  feasts  on  the 
luscious  falsehood,  whenever  she  is  off'end- 
ed  with  the  bitterness  of  truth.  By  de- 
grees the  reign  of  fancy  is  confirmed  ;  she 
crows  first  imperious,  and  in  time  despotic. 
Then  fictions  begin  to  operate  as  realities, 
false  opinions  fasten  upon  the  mind,  and  life 
passes  in  dreams  of  rapture  or  of  anguish. 

"  This,  Sir,  is  one  of  the  dangers  of  soli- 
tude, which  the  hermit  has  confessed  not 
always  to  promote  goodness,  and  the  as- 
tronomer's misery  has  proved  to  be  not  al- 
ways propitious  to  wisdom." 


148  RASSELAS. 

"  I  will  no  more/''  said  the  favorite, 
"  imagine  myself  the  queen  of  Abyssinia. 
I  have  often  spent  the  hours,  which  the 
princess  gave  to  my  own  disposal,  in  adjust- 
ing ceremonies  and  regulating  the  court ;  I 
have  repressed  the  pride  of  the  powerful, 
and  granted  the  petitions  of  the  poor ;  I 
have  built  new  palaces  in  more  happy 
situations,  planted  groves  upon  the  tops 
of  the  mountains,  and  have  exulted  in  the 
beneficence  of  royalty,  till,  when  the  prin- 
cess entered,  I  had  almost  forgotten  to  bow 
down  before  her." 

"  And  I,"  said  the  princess,  '<  will  not 
allow  myself  any  more  to  play  the  shep- 
herdess in  my  waking  dreams  I  have  of- 
ten soothed  my  thoughts  with  the  quiet 
and  innocence  of  pastoral  employments, 
till  I  have,  in  my  chamber,  heard  the 
winds  whistle,  and  the  sheep  bleat :  some- 
times freed  the  lamb  entangled  in  the 
thicket,  and  sometimes  with  my  crook  en- 
countered the  wolf  I  have  a  dress  like 
that  of  the  village  maids,  which  I  put  on  to 
help  my  imagination,  and  a  pipe  on  which 
I  play  softly,  and  suppose  myself  followed 
by  my  flocks." 

"  1  will  confess,"  said  the  prince,  "  an 
indulgence  of  fantastic  delight  more  dan- 
gerous tiian  yours.  I  have  frequently  en- 
deavoured to  imagine  the  possibility  of  a 
perfect  government,  by  which  all  wrong 
should   be   restrained,  all   vice   reformed. 


RASSELAS.  149 

and  all  the  subjects  preserved  in  tnanquilli- 
ty  and  innocence.  This  thought  produced 
innumerable  schemes  of  reformation,  and 
dictated  many  useful  regulations  and  salu- 
tary edicts.  This  has  been  the  sport,  and 
sometimes  the  labor,  of  my  solitude  5  and 
I  start,  when  I  think  with  how  little  anguish 
I  once  supposed  the  death  of  my  father 
and  my  brothers." 

"  Such,"  says  Imlac,  "  are  the  effects  of 
visionary  schemes  :  when  we  first  form 
them  we  know  them  to  be  absurd,  but  fa- 
miliarize them  by  degrees,  and  in  time  lose 
sight  of  their  folly." 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

THEy   DISCOURSE  WITH   AN  OLD   MAN-. 

The  evening  was  now  far  past,  and  they 
rose  to  return  home.  As  they  walked 
along  the  bank  of  the  Nile,  delighted  with 
the  beams  of  the  moon  quivering  on  the 
water,  they  saw  at  a  small  distance  an  old 
man,  whom  the  prince  had  often  heard  in 
the  assembly  of  the  sages.  "  Yonder," 
said  he,  '■  is  one  whose  years  have  calmed 
his  passions,  but  not  clouded  his  reason  : 
let  us  close  the  disquisitions  of  the  ni^ht, 
by  inquiring  what  are  his  sentiments  of  his 
own   state,   that  we    may   know  whether 


150  RASSELAS. 

youth  alone  is  to  struggle  with  vexation, 
and  whether  any  better  hope  remains  for 
the  latter  part  of  life." 

Here  the  sage  approached  and  saluted 
them.  They  invited  him  to  join  their 
walk,  and  prattled  awhile,  as  acquaintance 
that  had  unexpectedly  met  one  another. 
The  old  man  was  cheerful  and  talkative,  and 
the  way  seemed  short  in  his  company.  He 
was  pleased  to  find  himself  not  disregard- 
ed, accompanied  them  to  their  house,  and, 
at  the  prince's  request,  entered  with  them. 
They  placed  him  in  the  seat  of  honor,  and 
set  wine  and  conserves  before  him. 

''  Sir,"  said  the  princess,  "  an  evening 
walk  must  give  to  a  man  of  learning,  like 
you,  pleasures  which  ignorance  and  youth 
can  hardly  conceive.  You  know  the  qual- 
ities and  causes  of  all  that  you  behold,  the 
laws  by  which  the  river  flows,  the  periods 
in  which  the  planets  perform  their  revolu- 
tions. Every  thing  must  supply  you  with  i 
contemplation,  and  renew  the  conscious- 
ness of  your  own  dignity." 

"  Lady,"  answered  be,  "  let  the  gay  and 
the  vigorous  expect  pleasure  in  their  ex- 
cursions; it  is  enough  that  age  can  obtain 
ease.  To  me  the  world  has  lost  its  novel- 
ty ;  I  look  round,  and  see  what  I  remember 
to  have  seen  in  happier  days.  I  rest  against 
a  tree,  and  consider,  that  in  the  same  shade 
I  once  disputed  upon  the  annual  overflow 
of  the  Nile  with  a  friend  who  is  now  silent 


RASSELAS.  151 

in  the  grave.  I  cast  my  eyes  upwards,  fix 
them  en  the  changing  moon,  and  think  with 
pain  on  the  vicissitudes  of  life.  I  have 
ceased  to  take  much  delight  in  physical 
truth  ;  for  what  have  I  to  do  with  those 
things  which  I  am  soon  to  leave  ?  " 

"  You  may  at  least  recreate  yourself," 
said  Imlac,  "  with  the  recollection  of  an 
honorable  and  useful  life,  and  enjoy  the 
praise  which  all  agree  to  give  you." 

"  Praise,"  said  the  sage,  with  a  sigh,  "  is 
to  an  old  man  an  empty  sound.  I  have 
neither  mother  to  be  delighted  with  the 
reputation  of  her  son,  nor  wife  to  partake 
the  honors  of  her  husband.  I  have  out- 
lived my  friends  and  my  rivals.  Nothing 
is  now  of  much  importance  ;  for  I  cannot 
extend  my  interest  beyond  myself.  Youth 
is  delighted  with  applause,  because  it  is 
considered  as  the  earnest  of  some  future 
good,  and  because  the  prospect  of  life  is 
far  extended ;  but  to  me,  who  am  now  de- 
clining to  decrepitude,  there  is  little  to  be 
■feared  from  the  malevolence  of  men,  and 
yet  less  to  be  hoped  from  their  affection  or 
esteem.  Something  they  may  yet  take 
away,  but  they  can  give  me  nothing.  Rich- 
es would  now  be  useless,  and  high  employ- 
ment would  be  pain.  My  retrospect  of 
life  recalls  to  my  view  many  opportunities 
of  good  neglected,  much  time  squandered 
upon  trifles,  and  more  lost  in  idleness  and 
vacancy.     I  leave  many  great  designs  un- 


]52  RASSELAS. 

attempted,  and  many  great  attempts  unfin- 
I  ished.  My  mind  is  burdened  with  no 
)  heavy  crime,  and  therefore  I  compose  my- 
[  self  to  tranquillity  ;  endeavour  to  abstract 
my  thoughts  from  hopes  and  cares,  which, 
though  reason  knows  them  to  be  vain,  still 
try  to  keep  their  old  possession  of  the 
heart ;  expect,  with  serene  humility,  that 
hour  which  nature  cannot  long  delay  j  and 
hope  to  possess,  in  a  better  state,  that 
happiness  which  here  I  could  not  find,  and 
that  virtue  which  here  I  have  not  attained." 
He  rose  and  went  away,  leaving  his  au- 
dience not  much  elated  with  the  hope  of 
long  life.  The  prince  consoled  himself 
with  remarking,  that  it  was  not  reasonable 
to  be  disappointed  by  this  account  j  for  age 
had  never  been  considered  as  the  season 
of  felicity  ;  and  if  it  was  possible  to  be 
easy  in  decline  and  weakness,  it  was  likely 
that  the  days  of  vigor  and  alacrity  might 
be  happy  :  that  the  noon  of  life  might  be 
bright,  if  the  evening  could  be  calm. 

The  princess  suspected  that  age  was 
querulous  and  malignant,  and  delighted  to 
repress  the  expectations  of  those  who  had 
newly  entered  the  world.  She  had  seen 
!  tlie  possessors  of  estates  look  with  envy 
I  on  their  lieirs,  and  known  many  who  en- 
joyed pleasure  no  longer  than  they  could 
confine  it  to  themselves. 

Pekuah  conjectured  that  the   man  was 
older  than  he  appeared,  and  was  willing  to 


RASSELAS.  153 

impute  his  complaints  to  delirious  dejec- 
tion 3  or  else  supposed  that  he  had  been 
unfortunate,  and  was  therefore  discontent- 
ed :  "  For  nothing,"  said  she,  "  is  more  j 
common,  than  to  call  our  own  condition 
the  condition  of  life."  | 

Imlac,  who  had  no  ,desire  to  see  them 
depressed,  smiled  at  the  comforts  which  I 
they  could  so  readily  procure  to  themselves,  ! 
and  remembered,  that  at  the  same  age,  he 
was  equally  confident  of  unmingled  pros- 
perity, and  equally  fertile  of  consolatory 
expedients.  He  forbore  to  force  upon 
them  unwelcome  knowledge,  which  time 
itself  would  too  soon  impress.  The  prin- 
cess and  her  lady  retired  3  the  madness  of 
the  astronomer  hung  in  their  minds,  and 
they  desired  Imlac  to  enter  upon  his  office, 
and  delay  next  morning  the  rising  of  the 
sun. 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

THE   PRINCESS   AND    PEKUAH   VISIT    THE   AS- 
TRONOMER. 

The  princess  and  Pekuah  having  talked 
in  private  of  Imlac's  astronomer,  thought 
his  character  at  once  so  amiable  and  so 
strange,  that  they  could  not  be  satisfied 
without   a  nearer   knowledcre  :  and   Imlac 


15^  RASSELAS. 

was  requested  to  find  the  means  of  bring- 
ing them  together. 

This  was  somewhat  difficult ;  the  philos- 
opher had  never  received  any  visits  from 
women,  though  he  lived  in  a  city  that  had 
in  it  many  Europeans,  who  followed  the 
manners  of  their  own  countries,  and  many 
from  other  parts  of  the  world,  that  lived 
there  with  European  liberty.  The  ladies 
would  not  be  refused,  and  several  schemes 
were  proposed  for  the  accomplishment  of 
their  design.  It  was  proposed  to  introduce 
them  as  strangers  in  distress,  to  whom  the 
sage  was  always  accessible ;  but,  after 
some  deliberation,  it  appeared,  that,  by  this 
artifice,  no  acquaintance  could  be  formed, 
ibr  their  conversation  would  be  short,  and 
they  could  not  decently  importune  him  of- 
ten. "This,"  said  Kasselas,  "is  true; 
but  I  have  yet  a  stronger  objection  against 
the  misrepresentation  of  your  state.  1  have 
rdways  considered  it  as  treason  against  the 
great  republic  of  human  nature,  to  make 
any  man's  virtues  tie  means  of  deceiving 
him,  whether  on  great  or  little  occasions. 
All  imposture  weakens  confidence  and 
chills  benevolence.  When  the  sago  finds 
tliat  you  are  not  what  you  seemed,  he  will 
feel  the  resentment  natural  to  a  man  who, 
conscious  of  great  abilities,  discovers  that 
he  has  been  tricked  by  understandings 
meaner  than  his  own;  and,  perhaps,  the 
distrust   which    he    can    never   afterwards 


RASSELAS.  155 

wholly  lay  aside,  may  stop  the  voice  of 
counsel  and  close  the  hand  of  charity  ;  and 
where  will  you  find  the  power  of  restoring 
his  benefactions  to  mankind,  or  his  peace 
to  himself?  " 

To  this  no  reply  was  attempted,  and  Im- 
lac  began  to  hope  that  their  curiosity 
would  subside ;  but,  next  day,  Pekuah  told 
him,  she  had  now  found  an  honest  pretence 
for  a  visit  to  the  astronomer,  for  she  would 
solicit  permission  to  continue  under  him 
the  studies  in  which  she  had  been  initiated 
by  the  Arab,  and  the  princess  might  go 
with  her  either  as  a  fellow-student,  or  be- 
cause a  woman  could  not  decently  come 
alone.  "  I  am  afraid,"  said  Imlac,  ''  that 
he  will  be  soon  weary  of  your  company  : 
men  advanced  far  in  knowledge  do  not 
love  to  repeat  the  elements  of  their  art, 
and  I  am  not  certain  that  even  of  the  ele- 
ments, as  he  will  deliver  them  connected 
with  inferences,  and  mingled  with  reflec- 
tions, you  are  a  very  capable  auditress." 

"That,"  said  Pekuah,  ''must  be  my 
care  ;  I  ask  of  you  only  to  take  me  thither. 
My  knowledge  is,  perhaps,  more  than  you 
imagine  it,  and,  by  concurring  always  with 
his  opinions,  I  shall  make  him  think  it 
greater  than  it  is." 

The  astronomer,  in  pursuance  of  this 
resolution,  was  told,  that  a  foreign  lady, 
travelling  in  search  of  knov/ledge,  had 
heard  of  his  reputation,  and  was  desirous 


156  RASSELAS. 

to  become  his  scholar.  The  uncommon- 
ness  of  th-e  proposal  raised  at  once  his 
surprise  and  curiosity  ;  and  when,  after  a 
short  deliberation,  he  consented  to  admit 
her,  he  could  not  stay  without  impatience 
till  the  next  day. 

The  ladies  dressed  themselves  magnifi- 
cently, and  were  attended  by  Iralac  to  the 
astronomer,  who  was  pleased  to  see  him- 
self approached  with  respect  by  persons  of 
so  splendid  an  appearance.  In  the  ex- 
change of  the  first  civilities  he  was  timor- 
ous and  bashful ;  but  when  the  talk  became 
regular,  he  recollected  his  powers,  and  jus- 
tified the  character  which  Imlac  had  given. 
Inquiring  of  Pekuah,  what  could  have  turn- 
ed her  inclination  towards  astronomy,  he 
received  from  her  a  history  of  her  adven- 
ture at  the  Pyramid,  and  of  the  time  passed 
at  the  Arab's  Island.  She  told  her  tale 
with  ease  and  elegance,  and  her  conversa- 
tion took  possession  of  his  heart.  The 
discourse  was  then  turned  to  astronomy: 
Pekuah  displayed  what  she  knew ;  he 
looked  upon  her  as  a  prodigy  of  genius, 
and  entreated  her  not  to  desist  from  a  study 
which  she  had  so  happily  begun. 

They  came   again  and  again,  and  were  | 
ev2ry   time   more   welcome   than    before.  | 
The  sage  endeavoured  to  amuse  them,  that 
they  might  prolong  their  visits,  for  he  found 
his  tlioughts  grow  brighter  in  their  compa- 
ny 5  the   clouds  of  solicitude  vanished  by 


RASSELAS.  157 

degrees,  as  he  forced  himself  to  entertain 
them,  and  he  grieved  when  he  was  left  at 
their  departure  to  his  old  employment  of 
regulating  the  seasons. 

The  princess  and  her  favorite  had  now 
watched  his  lips  for  several  months,  and 
could  not  catch  a  word  from  which  they 
could  judge  whether  he  continued,  or  not, 
in  the  opinion  of  his  preternatural  com- 
mission. They  often  contrived  to  bring 
him  to  an  open  declaration  ;  but  he  easily 
eluded  all  their  attacks,  and,  on  which  side 
soever  they  pressed  him,  escaped  from 
them  to  some  other  topic. 

As  their  familiarity  increased,  they  in- 
vited him  often  to  the  house  of  Imlac, 
where  they  distinguished  him  by  extraor- 
dinary respect.  He  began  gradually  to  de- 
light in  sublunary  pleasures.  He  came 
early  and  departed  late  3  labored  to  recom- 
mend himself  by  assiduity  and  compliance  ; 
excited  their  curiosity  after  new  arts,  that 
they  might  still  want  his  assistance  ;  and 
when  they  made  any  excursion  of  pleasure 
or  inquiry  entreated  to  attend  them. 

By  long  experience  of  his  integrity  and 
wisdom,  the  prince  and  his  sister  were 
convinced  that  he  might  be  trusted  without 
danger  ;  and,  lest  he  should  draw  any  false 
hopes  from  the  civilities  which  he  received, 
discovered  to  him  their  condition,  with  the 
motives  of  their  journey  ;  and  required  his 
opinion  on  the  choice  of  life. 


158  RASSELAS. 

"Of  the  various  conditionB  which  the 
world  spreads  before  you,  which  you  shall 
prefer,"  said  the  sage,  "  I  am  not  able  to 
instruct  you.  I  can  only  tell  that  I  have 
chosen  wrong.  I  have  passed  my  time  in 
study  without  experience  ;  in  the  attain- 
ment of  sciences,  which  can,  for  the  most 
part,  be  but  remotely  useful  to  mankind. 
I  have  purchased  knowledge  at  the  ex- 
pense of  all  the  common  comforts  of  life  : 
I  have  missed  the  endearing  elegance  of 
female  friendship,  and  the  happy  commerce 
of  domestic  tenderness.  If  I  have  obtain- 
ed any  prerogatives  above  other  students, 
they  have  been  accompanied  with  fear,  dis- 
quiet, and  scrupulosity  ;  but  even  of  these 
prerogatives,  whatever  they  were,  I  have, 
since  my  thoughts  have  been  diversified  by 
more  intercourse  with  the  world,  begun  to 
question  the  reality.  When  I  have  been 
for  a  few  days  lost  in  pleasing  dissipation,  I 
am  always  tempted  to  think  that  my  inqui- 
ries have  ended  in  error,  and  that  I  have 
suffered  much  and  suffered  it  in  vain." 

Imlac  was  delighted  to  find  that  the 
sage's  understanding  was  breaking  through 
its  mists,  and  resolved  to  detain  him  from 
the  planets  till  he  should  forget  his  task  of 
ruling  them,  and  reason  should  recover  its 
original  influence. 

From  this  time  the  astronomer  was  re- 
ceived into  familiar  friendship,  and  partook 
of  all  their  projects  and  pleasures  :  his  re- 


RASSELAS.  1.99 

spect  kept  him  attentive,  and  the  activity  of 
Rasselas  did  not  leave  much  time  unen- 
gaged. Something  was  always  to  be  done  ; 
the  day  was  spent  in  making  observations 
which  furnished  talk  for  the  evening,  and 
the  evening  was  closed  with  a  scheme  for 
the  morrow. 

The  sage  confessed  to  Imlac,  that  since 
he  had  mingled  in  the  gay  tumults  of  life, 
and  divided  his  hours  by  a  succession  of 
amusements,  he  found  the  conviction  of 
his  authority  over  the  skies  fade  gradually 
from  his  mind,  and  began  to  trust  less  to  an 
opinion  which  he  never  could  prove  to  oth- 
ers, and  which  he  now  found  subject  to  va- 
riation, from  causes  in  which  reason  had  no 
part.  "  If  I  am  accidentally  left  alone  for 
a  few  hours,"  said  he,  ''my  inveterate 
persuasion  rushes  upon  my  soul,  and  my 
thoughts  are  chained  down  by  some  irre- 
sistible violence;  but  they  are  soon  disen- 
tangled by  the  prince's  conversation,  and 
instantaneously  released  at  the  entrance  of 
Pekuah.  I  am  like  a  man  habitually  afraid 
of  spectres,  who  is  set  at  ease  by  a  lamp, 
and  wonders  at  the  dread  which  harassed 
him  in  the  dark  ;  yet,  if  his  lamp  be  extin- 
guished, feels  again  the  terrors  which  he 
knows  that  when  it  is  light  he  shall  feel  no 
more.  But  I  am  sometimes  afraid  lest  I 
indulge  my  quiet  by  criminal  negligence, 
and  voluntarily  forget  the  great  charge 
with  which   I  am   entrusted.     If  I  favor 


160  RASSELAS. 

myself  in  a  known  error,  or  am  determin- 
ed by  mine  ovvn  ease  in  a  doubtful  ques- 
tion of  this  importance,  how  dreadful  is 
my  crime  !  " 

'*No  disease  of  the  imagination,"  an- 
swered Imlac,  "  is  so  difficult  of  cure  as 
that  which  is  complicated  with  the  dread 
of  guilt ;  fancy  and  conscience  then  act 
interchangeably  upon  us,  and  so  often  shift 
their  places,  that  the  illusions  of  one  are 
not  distinguished  from  the  dictates  of  the 
other.  If  fancy  presents  images  not  moral 
or  religious,  the  mind  drives  them  away 
when  they  give  it  pain}  but  when  melan- 
cholic notions  take  the  form  of  duty,  they 
lay  hold  on  the  faculties  without  opposi- 
tion, because  we  are  afraid  to  exclude  or 
banish  them.  For  this  reason  the  supersti- 
tious are  often  melancholy,  and  the  melan- 
choly almost  always  superstitious. 

"  iSut  do  not  let  the  suggestions  of  tim- 
idity overpower  your  better  reason  :  the 
danger  of  neglect  can  be  but  as  the  proba- 
bility of  the  obligation  which,  when  you 
consider  it  with  freedom,  you  find  very  lit- 
tle, and  that  little  growing  every  day  less. 
Open  your  heart  to  the  influence  of  the 
light,  which,  from  time  to  time  breaks  in 
upon  you  :  when  scruples  importune  you, 
which  you  in  your  lucid  moments  know  to 
be  vain,  do  not  stand  to  parley,  but  fly  to 
business  or  to  Pekuah,  and  keep  this 
thought  always    prevalent,   that    you   are 


RASSELAS.  IGI 

only  one  atom  of  the  mass  of  humani*v, 
and  have  neither  such  virtue  nor  vice,  'is 
that  you  should  be  singled  out  for  supern»  t- 
ural  favors  or  afflictions." 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

THE  PRINCE   ENTERS,  AND  BRINGS  A  NEW  TOP-C. 

"All  this,"  said  the  astronomer,  "I 
have  often  thought,  but  my  reason  Kis 
been  so  long  subjugated  by  an  uncontrol  a- 
ble  and  overwhelming  idea,  that  it  du'st 
not  confide  in  its  own  decisions.  I  nv>w 
see  how  fatally  I  betrayed  my  quiet,  by 
suffering  chimeras  to  prey  upon  me  in  se- 
cret; but  melancholy  shrinks  from  com- 
munication, and  I  never  found  a  man  be- 
fore to  whom  I  could  impart  my  troubles, 
though  I  had  been  certain  of  relief.  I  re- 
joice to  find  my  own  sentiments  confirmed 
by  yours,  who  are  not  easily  deceived,  and 
can  have  no  motive  or  purpose  to  deceive. 
I  hope  that  time  and  variety  will  dissipate 
the  gloom  that  has  so  long  surrounded  me, 
and  the  latter  part  of  my  days  will  be  spent 
in  peace." 

"  Your  learning  and  virtue,"  said  Imlac, 
"may  justly  give  you  hopes." 

Rasselas  then  entered  with  the  princess 
and   Pekuah,  and  inquired,  whether  they 


162  RASSELAS. 

had  contrived  any  new  diversions  for  the 
next  day?  "Such,"  said  Nekayah,  ''is 
tiie  stale  of  life,  that  none  are  happy  but  by 
the  anticipation  of  change  :  the  change  it- 
self is  nothing  3  when  we  have  made  it,  the 
next  wish  is  to  change  again.  The  world  is 
not  yet  exhausted;  let  me  see  sometliing 
to-morrow  which  I  never  saw  before." 

"  Variety,"  said  Rasselas,  "  is  so  neces- 
sary to  content,  that  even  the  Happy  Val- 
ley disgusted  me  by  the  recurrence  of  its 
luxuries  ;  yet  I  could  not  forbear  to  re- 
proach  myself   with   impatience,  when   I 

,  saw  the   monks   of   St.   Anthony  support 
without   complaint,  a  life,  not  of  uniform 

j  delight,  but  uniform  hardship." 

1  ''Those  men,"  answered  Imlac,  "are 
less  wretched  in  their  silent  convent  than 
the  Abyssinian  princes  in  their  prison  of 
pleasure.  Whatever  is  done  by  the  monks 
is  incited  by  an  adequate  and  reasonable 
motive.  Their  labor  supplies  them  with 
necessaries  ;  it  therefore  cannot  be  omit- 
ted, and  is  certainly  rewarded.  Their  de- 
votion prepares  them  for  another  state,  and 
reminds  them  of  its  approach  while  it  fits 
them  for  it.  Their  time  is  regularly  distri- 
buted ;  one  duty  succeeds  another,  so  tliat  ; 
they  are  not  left  open  to  the  distraction  of  | 
unguided  choice,  nor  lost  in  the  shades  of 
listless  inactivity.  There  is  a  certain  task 
to  be  performed  at  an  aj)propriated  hour  ; 
and  their  toils   are  checri'ul,  because  they 


RASSELAS.  1G3 

consider  them  as  acts  of  piety,  by  which 
they  are  always  advancing  towards  endless 
felicity." 

"  Do  you  think/'  said  Nekayah,  "  that 
the  monastic  rule  is  a  more  holy  and  less 
imperfect  state  than  any  other  ?  May  not 
he  equally  hope  for  future  happiness  who 
converses  openly  with  mankind  ;  who  suc- 
cours the  distressed  by  his  charity,  in- 
structs the  ignorant  by  his  learning,  and 
contributes  by  his  industry  to  the  general 
system  of  life ;  even  though  he  should 
omit  some  of  the  mortifications  which  are 
practised  in  the  cloister,  and  allow  himself 
such  harmless  delights  as  his  condition 
may  place  within  his  reach  ?  " 

"  This."  said  Imlac,  "  is  a  question  which 
has  long  divided  the  wise,  and  perplexed  the 
good.  I  am  afraid  to  decide  on  either  part. 
He  that  lives  well  in  the  world  is  better 
than  he  that  lives  well  in  a  monastery. 
But,  perhaps,  every  one  is  not  able  to  stem 
the  temptations  of  public  life  ;  and  if  he 
cannot  conquer,  he  may  properly  retreat. 
Some  have  little  power  to  do  good,  and 
have  likewise  little  strength  to  resist  evil. 
Many  are  weary  of  their  conflicts  with  ad- 
versity, and  are  willing  to  eject  those  pas- 
sions which  have  long  busied  them  in  vain 
And  many  are  dismissed  by  age  and  dis- 
eases from  the  more  laborious  duties  of 
society.  In  monasteries  the  weak  and 
timorous   may  be    happily   sheltered,   the 


164>  RASSELAS, 

weary  may  repose,  and  the  penitent  may 
meditate.  Those  retreats  of  prayer  and 
contemplation  have  something  so  congenial 
to  the  mind  of  man,  that,  perhaps,  there  is 
scarcely  one  that  does  not  purpose  to  close 
his  life  in  pious  abstraction,  with  a  few  as- 
sociates serious  as  himself." 

"  Such,"  said  Pekuah,  "  has  often  been 
my  wish,  and  I  have  heard  the  princess  de- 
clare, that  she  could  not  willingly  die  in  a 
crowd." 

"  The  liberty  of  using  harmless  pleas- 
ures," proceeded  Imlac,  ''will  not  be  dis- 
puted 5  but  it  is  still  to  be  examined  what 
pleasures  are  harmless.  The  evil  of  any 
pleasure  that  Nekayah  can  image,  is  not 
in  the  act  itself,  but  in  its  consequences. 
Pleasure,  in  itself  harmless,  may  become 
mischievous,  by  endearing  to  us  a  state 
which  we  know  to  be  transient  and  proba- 
tory, and  withdrawing  our  thoughts  from 
that  of  which  every  hour  brings  us  nearer 
to  the  beginning,  and  of  which  no  length 
of  time  will  bring  us  to  the  end.  Mortifi- 
cation is  not  virtuous  in  itself,  nor  has  any 
other  use,  but  that  it  disengages  us  from 
the  allurements  of  sense.  In  the  state  of 
future  perfection,  to  which  we  all  aspire, 
there  will  be  pleasure  without  danger,  and 
security  without  restraint." 

Tlie  princess  was  silent,  and  Rasselas, 
turning  to  the  astronomer,  asked  him, 
whether  he  could  not  delay  her  retreat,  by 


165 


showing  her  somethjug  ^hich  she  had  not 
seen  before  ? 

"  Your  curiosity."  said  the  sage,  "  has 
been  so  general,  and  your  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge so  vigorous,  that  novelties  are  not 
now  very  easily  to  be  found  ;  but  what  you 
can  no  longer  procure  from  the  living  may 
be  given  by  the  dead.  Among  the  won- 
ders of  this  country  are  the  Catacombs, 
or  the  ancient  repositories,  in  which  the 
bodies  of  the  earliest  generations  were 
lodged,  and  where,  by  the  virtue  of  the 
gums  which  embalmed  them,  they  yet  re- 
main without  corruption." 

''I  know  not,"  said  Rasselas,  "what 
pleasure  the  sight  of  the  Catacombs  can 
afford ;  but,  since  nothing  else  is  offered,  I 
am  resolved  to  view  them,  and  shall  place 
this  with  many  other  things  which  I  have 
done,  because  I  would  do  something." 

They  hired  a  guard  of  horsemen,  and  the 
next  day  visited  the  Catacombs.  When  they 
were  about  to  descend  into  the  sepulchral 
caves,  "Pekuah,"  said  the  princess,'' we  are 
now  again  invading  the  habitations  of  the 
dead  :  I  know  that  you  will  stay  behind  ;  let 
me  find  you  safe  when  I  return."  "  No,  I 
will  not  be  left,"  answered  Pekuah,  ^'I  will 
go  down  between  you  and  the  prince." 

They  then  all  descended,  and  roved  with 
wonder  through  the  labyrinth  of  subterra- 
neous passages,  where  the  bodies  were  laid 
in  rows  on  either  side.  I 


!  166 


RASSBLAS. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

IMLAC  DISCOURSES  ON  THE  NATURE  OF  THE  SOUL. 

"What  reason/'  said  the  prince,  "  can 
be  given,  why  the  Egyptians  should  thus 
expensively  preserve  those  carcasses  which 
some  nations  consume  with  fire,  others  lay 
to  mingle  with  the  earth,  and  all  agree  to 
remove  from  their  sight,  as  soon  as  decent 
rites  can  be  performed  1 " 

"The  original  of  ancient  customs,"  said 
Imlac,  "  is  commonly  unknown ;  for  the 
practice  often  continues  when  the  cause 
has  ceased ;  and  concerning  superstitious 
ceremonies  it  is  vain  to  conjecture ;  for 
what  reason  did  not  dictate,  reason  cannot 
explain.  I  have  long  believed  that  the 
practice  of  embalming  arose  only  from  ten- 
derness to  the  remains  of  relations  or 
friends,  and  to  this  opinion  I  am  more  in- 
clined, because  it  seems  impossible  that 
this  care  should  have  been  general :  had 
all  the  dead  been  embalmed,  their  reposi- 
tories must  in  time  have  been  more  spa- 
cious than  the  dwellings  of  the  living.  I 
suppose  only  the  rich  or  honorable  were 
secured  from  corruption,  and  the  rest  left 
to  the  course  of  nature. 

"  But  it  is  commonly  supposed  tict  the 
Egyptians  believed  the  soul  to  liv^  \a  long 
as   tlie    body    continued   undissolved,    and 


RASSELAS.  167 

therefore   tried    this    method  of    eluding 
death." 

"  Could  the  wise  Egyptians/'  said  Ne- 
kayah,  "  think  so  grossly  of  the  soul?     If  I 
the  soul  could  once  survive  its  separation, 
what  could  it  afterwards  receive  or  suffer 
from  the  body  1 " 

"  The  Egyptians  would  doubtless  think 
erroneously,"  said  the  astronomer,  "  in  the 
darkness  of  heathenism,  and  the  first  dawn 
of  philosophy.  The  nature  of  the  soul  is 
still  disputed  amidst  all  our  opportunities  of 
I  clearer  knowledge  :  some  yet  say  that  it 
may  be  material,  who,  nevertheless,  be- 
lieve it  to  be  immortal." 

"  Some,"  answered  Imlac,  "have  indeed 
said  that  the  soul  is  material,  but  I  can 
scarcely  believe  that  any  man  has  thought 
it,  who  knew  how  to  think ;  for  all  the 
conclusions  of  reason  enforce  the  immate- 
riality of  mind,  and  all  the  notices  of  sense 
and  investigations  of  science  concur  to 
prove  the  unconsciousness  of  matter. 

''  It  was  never  supposed  that  cogitation 
is  inherent  in  matter,  or  that  every  particle 
is  a  thinking  being.  Yet,  if  any  part  of 
matter  be  devoid  of  thought,  what  part  can 
we  suppose  to  think  ?  Matter  can  differ 
from  matter  only  in  form,  density,  bulk, 
motion,  and  direction  of  motion :  to  which 
of  these,  however  varied  or  combined,  can 
consciousness  be  annexed  ?  To  be  round 
or  square,  to  be  solid  or  fluid,  to  be  great 


168  RASSELAS. 

or  little,  to  be  moved  slowly  or  swiftly  one  i 
way  or  another,  are  modes  of  material  ex- 
istence, all  equally  alien  from  the  nature 
of  cogitation.  If  matter  be  once  without 
thought,  it  can  only  be  made  to  think  by 
some  new  modification,  but  all  the  modifi- 
cations which  it  can  admit  are  equally  un- 
connected with  cogitative  powers." 

"  But  the  materialists,"  said  the  astrono- 
mer, "  urge  that  matter  may  have  qualities 
with  which  we  are  unacquainted." 

''  He  who  will  determine,"  returned  Im- 
lac,  "against  that  which  he  knows,  be- 
cause there  may  be  something  which  he 
knows  not ;  he  that  can  set  hypothetical 
possibility  against  acknowledged  certainty, 
is  not  to  be  admitted  among  reasonable 
beings.  All  that  we  know  of  matter  is, 
that  matter  is  inert,  senseless,  and  lifeless  ; 
and  if  this  conviction  cannot  be  opposed 
but  by  referring  us  to  something  that  we 
know  not,  we  have  all  the  evidence  that 
human  intellect  can  admit.  If  that  which 
is  known  may  be  overruled  by  tiiat  which 
is  unknown,  no  being,  not  omniscient,  can 
arrive  at  certainty." 

"  Yet  let  us  not."  said  the  astronomer, 
"  too  arrogantly  limit  the  Creator's  power." 

"  It  is  no  limitation  of  omnipotence," 
replied  the  poet,  "  to  suppose  that  one 
thing  is  not  consistent  with  another,  that 
tlie  same  proposition  cannot  be  at  once 
true  and  false,  that  the  same  number  can- 


RASSELAS.  1G9 

not  be  even  and  odd,  that  cogitation  cannot 
be  conferred  on  that  which  is  created  inca- 
pable of  cogitation." 

"  I  know  not/'  said  Nekayah, ''  any  great 
use  of  this  question.  Does  that  immate- 
riality, which,  in  my  opinion,  you  have  suf- 
ciently  proved,  necessarily  include  eternal 
duration  1 " 

"  Of  immateriality,"  said  Tmlac,  "  our 
ideas  are  negative,  and  therefore  obscure. 
Immateriality  seems  to  imply  a  natural 
power  of  perpetual  duration  as  a  conse- 
quence of  exemption  from  all  causes  of 
decay  ;  whatever  perishes  is  destroyed  by 
the  solution  of  its  contexture,  and  separa- 
tion of  its  parts  ;  nor  can  we  conceive  how 
that  which  has  no  parts,  and  therefore  ^- 
mits  no  solution,  can  be  naturally  cor- 
rupted or  impaired." 

•'I  know  not,"  said  Rasselas, '•  how  to 
conceive  any  thing  without  extension ; 
what  is  extended  must  have  parts,  and  you 
allow,  that  whatever  has  parts  may  be  de- 
stroyed." 

''  Consider  your  own  conceptions,"  re- 
plied Imlac,  "  and  the  difficulty  will  be 
less.  You  will  find  substance  without 
extension.  An  ideal  form  is  no  less  real 
than  material  bulk}  yet  an  ideal  form  has 
no  extension.  It  is  no  less  certain,  when 
you  think  on  a  pyramid,  that  your  mind 
possesses  the  idea  of  a  pyramid,  than  that 
the  pyramid  itself  is  standing.    Whit  space 


170  RASSELAS. 

does  the  idea  of  a  pyramid  occupy  more 
than  the  idea  of  a  grain  of  corn  ?  or  how 
can  either  idea  suffer  laceration?  As  is 
the  effect,  such  is  the  cause ;  as  thought, 
such  is  the  power  that  thinks  5  a  power  im- 
passive and  indiscerptible." 

"  But  the  Being,"  said  Nekayah,  "  whom 
I  fear  to  name,  the  Being  which  made  the 
soul,  can  destroy  it." 

"  He,  surely,  can  destroy  it,"  answered 
Imlac,  ''since,  however  unperishable,  it 
receives  from  a  superior  nature  its  power 
of  duration.  That  it  will  not  perish  by 
any  inherent  cause  of  decay,  or  principle 
of  corruption,  may  be  shown  by  philoso- 
phy ;  but  philosophy  can  tell  no  more. 
That  it  will  not  be  annihilated  by  him  that 
made  it,  we  must  humbly  learn  from  higher 
authority." 

The  vvhole  assembly  stood  awhile  silent 
and  collected.  "  Let  us  return,"  said  Ras- 
selas,  "  from  this  scene  of  mortality.  How 
gloomy  would  be  these  mansions  of  the 
dead  to  him  who  did  not  know  that  he 
should  never  die  ;  that  what  now  acts  shall 
continue  its  agency,  and  what  now  thinks 
shall  think  on  for  ever.  Those  that  lie 
here  strctcked  before  us,  the  wise  and  the 
powerful  of  ancient  times,  warn  us  to  re- 
member the  shortness  of  our  present  state  i 
they  were,  perhaps,  snatched  away  while 
they  were  busy  like  us  in  the  choice  of 
life." 


SA8SBLA8.  171 

•'  To  me,"  said  the  princess,  •'  the  cnoice 
of  life  is  become  less  important}  I  hope 
hereafter  to  think  only  on  the  choice  of 
eternity." 

They  then  hastened  out  of  the  caverns, 
and,  under  the  protection  of  their  guard, 
returned  to  Cairo. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

THE   CONCLUSION  IN  WHICH  NOTHING  IS 
CONCLUDED. 

It  was  now  the  time  of  the  inundation 
of  the  Nile  :  a  few  days  after  their  visit  to 
the  Catacombs,  the  river  began  to  rise. 

They  were  confined  to  their  house. 
The  whole  region  being  under  water,  gave 
them  no  invitation  to  any  excursions,  and, 
being  well  supplied  with  materials  for  talk, 
they  diverted  themselves  with  comparis- 
ons of  the  different  forms  of  life  which 
they  had  observed,  and  with  various 
schemes  of  happiness,  which  each  of  them 
had  formed. 

Pekuah  was  never  so  much  charmed 
with  any  place  as  the  convent  of  St.  An- 
thony, where  the  Arab  restored  her  to  the 
princess,  and  wished  only  to  fill  it  with 
pious  maidens,  and  to  be  made  prioress  of 
the  order  j  she  was  weary  of  expectation 


172  KASSKLAS. 

and  disgust,  and  would  gladly  be  fixed  in 
some  unvariable  state. 

The  princess  thought,  that,  of  all  sublu- 
nary things,  knowledge  was  the  best :  she 
desired  first  to  learn  all  sciences,  and  then 
proposed  to  found  a  college  of  learned  wo- 
men, in  which  she  would  preside,  that,  by 
conversing  with  the  old,  and  educating  the 
young,  she  might  divide  her  time  between 
the  acquisition  and  communication  of  wis- 
dom, and  raise  up  for  the  next  age  models 
of  prudence,  and  patterns  of  piety. 

The  prince  desired  a  little  kingdom,  in 
which  he  might  administer  justice  in  his 
own  person,  and  see  all  the  parts  of  the 
government  with  his  own  eyes;  but  he 
could  never  fix  the  limits  of  his  dominion, 
and  was  always  adding  to  the  number  of 
his  subjects. 

Imlac  and  the  astronomer  were  con- 
tented to  be  driven  along  the  stream  of 
life,  without  directing  their  course  to  any 
particular  port. 

Of  these  wishes  that  they  had  formed 
they  well  knew  that  none  could  be  ob- 
tained. They  deliberated  awhile,  what 
was  to  be  done,  and  resolved,  when  the  in- 
undation should  cease,  to  return  to  Abys- 
sinia. 


UC  SOUTHERN  RE  j-:'.A.^  ._  5=^ARr  FAClLiTr 


B     000  003  447     o 


